Beyond The Walls
by ashlynnb14
Summary: This is a story about forbidden like/love and what happens when rules are broken. From the Sons, would you expect anything less? This story is starts during the time the Sons are serving their 14 month sentence. I don't want to give too much away during the summary so just take a look at Chapter One and see if you are interested :) I own nothing of SOA, only my OC's :)
1. New Guard

"You see that new guard?" Tig looked over at me and smiled. I shook my head and pushed out another rep. Luckily I didn't need a spotter, because Tig really sucked at it. I moved on from bench presses to free weights as Tig kept talking.

"Fine as hell." Tig finished with a nod. I hadn't been listening at all so his comment through me off a little.

"What? Changing teams three weeks in?" I smirked at him as he narrowed his eyes. We weren't even a month in to our fourteen-month sentence and Tig was dying for some companionship.

"No man, he's talking about the new guard. She's transferring to our unit this week." Juice said with a laugh as Tig grumbled something about not being that desperate. I raised my brow at Juice, wondering how the village idiot knew so much.

"Probably looks like a fucking ape." I said with a shrug. The only female guards I'd ever seen in Washington or California looked like they could be men. Half of them looked manlier than Juice.

"Whatever man. She'll probably be at chow, you'll see." Tig was looking across the yard at a group of white guys staring over at the three of us. I threw the barbell down and climbed off the bench, staring right back at them.

"Clay said he's working on a deal with Alvarez. Jax is going to be in the infirmary for at least another month. I feel like we've got targets on our backs." Juice said as he turned to face Tig and I. I couldn't help feel the same way, even if I wasn't as worried about it.

The Russians got a hold of Jax right after we got in and cut him up pretty bad. I'd tried to tell him to watch his back, but the kid was so focused on calling his old lady he wouldn't listen. Our numbers weren't great coming in. Now we were one down with Jax in the infirmary, so a deal was the best bet to get out alive.

"Watch your back. Don't go anywhere alone." I growled as Juice started fidgeting with a belt loop nervously. He was green when it came to hard time. If it was that obvious to me, it would be obvious to everyone else. Juice nodded and headed over to the bleachers Clay and Bobby were sitting at.

"Seriously though, Hap, I swear she's fine as hell. Better than anything at the clubhouse." Tig said with a serious nod. I laughed and shook my head.

"Doubt that, brother." I shook my head and clapped his shoulder as we went to join the others. I kept an eye on the Russians that were watching us closely. If they were watching us, I knew I'd have to watch them closer.

The five of us sat on the bleachers and talked about Clay's latest conversation with Alvarez for a while. There wasn't much being said about details, but hopefully the deal would be done within the week. I didn't say much about the deal. I figured if I wasn't an officer, I wasn't going to overstep. I knew my job and was perfectly happy there.

"Chow time, ladies. Let's move." A guard yelled across the yard. We stayed on the bleachers until the Russians passed. The safest place to be was behind them, even though Tig was dying to get to the dining hall. I rolled my eyes and stopped listening as he started telling Bobby and Clay about the new chick guard.

We made our way in to the dining hall and grabbed trays off the line before heading over to what was becoming our regular table. I looked down at the food and snarled at the different colors of mush. It sure as hell wasn't my Ma's cooking. Hell, it couldn't even pass for my own cooking. I pushed the food around with my fork and tried to remember how many soups I had left in the cell.

"I'll be damned." Bobby said with a laugh. I looked up from my tray and raised my brow at him, wondering what was so damn wonderful about chow. He was looking across the dining hall at what had to be the guard Tig was talking about.

Tig hadn't been lying after all. Even from across the room, she was by far the best-looking guard I'd ever seen. She was smiling and talking to another guard. Her hair was almost as bright as her smile. I'd never tell the guys, but I could tell she wasn't a fake blonde. It was hard to tell much else from the uniform she was in, but what I could make out I liked, a lot.

"Fuck." The word slipped out of my mouth as a growl. Juice snickered and I glared at him. He raised his hands in surrender as I turned the fork over between my fingers. When I looked back up, she was gone.

"Told you she was fine as hell." Tig said with a laugh as I tossed the fork down on the metal tray with a clang. I didn't say anything. Instead, I just nodded and wondered what she looked like out of that damn uniform.

"So, what you have to remember is these inmates are not your friend. They may try to wiggle their way on to your good side, but they're all in here for a reason. What unit are you going in to after orientation?" Jason Wright, the correctional officer I was shadowing for the day, asked with a smile as he offered me a stick of gum.

"They've got me assigned to George Unit." I said with a smile before popping the gum in my mouth. Wright's eyes widened as he looked around the dining hall for any sign of trouble. I had already been warned about the unit from the officer I shadowed yesterday. She was a beast of a woman and she said even she wouldn't work George.

"I don't know what the captain was thinking throwing you in there. You know that's high security, right?" Wright was looking at me again. His eyes lingered on my chest too long, so I turned my eyes to the crowded dining hall.

"I was top of my class in both academics and self defense. Captain said he needed somebody, so I volunteered. I'll be fine." I told him. I knew I sounded arrogant, but I was tired of everyone looking at me like I was weak. Something told me it had a lot to do with looking young and being blonde. I spun the ring on my fourth finger with my thumb absentmindedly.

"So, what's the husband think about you being a CO?" Wright asked with a trace of a laugh. I shrugged and kept looking out over the tables.

"We aren't married, just engaged." I said simply to shut the conversation down. I'd only met Wright two days ago and I wasn't about to share personal details with him.

"You know George has mainly gangs and psychos, right?" Wright was back on the subject of doubting me. I looked at him and nodded.

"Yeah, I got the briefing. Gangs are all through this prison, at least I don't have to guess who's who." I said with a laugh as I recalled the files I'd gone over that morning with the captain. He'd made sure I had access to the files so I could keep them separated as much as possible.

"Alright then, smart girl. How about a quiz?" Wright asked as we headed out of the dining hall and down towards what would be my new unit. I shrugged carelessly. I knew my stuff, but I didn't appreciate the constant doubt.

"Clover tattoo, who has it?" Wright asked as he called for the George outer hallway door. I rolled my eyes at him.

"AB." I said curtly as the door buzzed open. Wright nodded with a smile as he followed me through the door. Once I called for the unit door, he looked over at me again.

"That one was easy. How about some more local gangs. Reaper tattoo?" He asked with a cocky smile. I rolled my eyes and flung the door open.

"Sons of Anarchy, but I don't know if that counts as a gang. By definition they are still a motorcycle club. They may not be innocent but until I hear about their initiations involving gang banging and beat downs, I'm not labeling them a gang." I said with a shrug. I headed over to the post officer and got a run down of the day so far.

"Nothing much going on, really. You've got some white tension going on, but nothing's popped off yet. Recreation went smoothly so they'll be out in the dayroom until count. Rounds every thirty to make sure everything's still clear." The officer said with a bored expression. Of all the officers I'd met yet, Leon Brown was the only one who didn't give me shit about taking George Unit. It was probably because he was retiring and didn't care, but I appreciated it all the same.

"Well kid, I've got PTO for the rest of the day, so I'm out. You good to hang out with Brown?" Wright said as he laid a hand on the back of my shoulder. I narrowed my eyes a little at his touch but nodded all the same.

"She'll be fine." Brown said as he stood up from his chair. Wright shrugged and gave me an overly sweet smile as he called for the door on the radio. As soon as he was on the other side of the heavy metal door, I let out an involuntary sigh of relief.

"You and me both Katrina." Brown said with a laugh as he rolled another chair over for me. I winced a little as he butchered my name.

"It's Katerina, actually. I don't really want them knowing that though." I said, nodding out towards the thirty or so inmates milling around the dayroom. I noticed several of them staring.

"Sorry about that, Recker. I'm getting so close to that retirement I'm forgetting protocol I guess." Brown said with a warm smile. His smile didn't piss me off like Wright's did. I shrugged and leaned back in the chair, happy to rest my back after pulling it during last night's gym time.

"Mind if I ask you something?" Brown asked. I raised my brow. "Wright keeps calling you kid. How old are you? Sorry, I know most women hate that question."

"It's fine. I'd rather you ask than call me a kid. I just turned twenty-nine last month." I said with a little laugh. I guess my distaste for being called a kid was more obvious than I realized. Brown nodded with his same warm smile.

"No offense, but you're still a kid to me. I'm old though. What do you say to making a round with me? Might as well start getting to know these knuckle heads now." He stood up and looked over at me. I nodded and tried to get up as gracefully as possible, despite my smarting back.

We walked around the cells first, making sure no one needed help or had injured themselves in the last thirty minutes. Once we found everything in the cells clear, we started going around the tables in the dayroom to make sure there weren't any shenanigans as Brown put it.

"Morrow, how's that boy of yours doing?" Brown asked a tall, gray headed man sitting on a table top with four other men. Morrow shook his head and hitched a shoulder.

"He'd be better if the hospital here wasn't shit. Thanks for asking. You the new guard?" He asked, looking from Brown to me. I nodded and reached my hand out. They may be inmates, but I would respect them until I had a reason not to.

"Recker, nice to meet you." I said with a smile as he shook my hand after recovering from a little shock. He nodded and smiled back. I didn't like his smile much more than Wrights, but at least it was to be expected from an inmate.

"Clay Morrow. We'll try not to give you to much trouble." He said with a laugh. The curly haired man with bright eyes next to him laughed.

"Yeah, we try not to have to much fun on vacation." He said sarcastically. I held back a laugh. Being polite and laughing at a joke were two different things completely. I gave him a half grin and nodded before Brown and I headed back around the dayroom. We met a few more men before heading back to the desk.

"Think you've got a few admirers already." Brown said with a laugh as I entered a record of our round into the log on the computer. I finished typing before I looked over at him.

"What are you talking about?" I said as I scanned the dayroom. I immediately picked up on what he was referring to. Several inmates glanced over at me a little longer than they should have, but none of them stared like the tall, dark bald guy sitting with Morrow and the jokester.

"If you want my opinion, I'd want to stay on his good side anyway. Unlike a lot of guards, I don't look up charges for my own sanity. Happy Lowman is the one guy in this unit that gives me chills. Lucky for me, he's going to be your problem soon." Brown said with a laugh as he set his radio on the desk and opened a bag of chips.

"I know he's a Son, but is he really that bad?" I asked, ripping my eyes away from him with some effort. Brown shrugged a little as he finished crunching loudly on his chips.

"Nah, he won't give you any trouble. Never has me, anyways. I just mean he's a scary looking dude, that's all." Brown gave me a reassuring smile before offering me some chips. I shook my head and did a quick visual check, noticing happily that Lowman wasn't staring anymore.

**As always, I don't own any part of SOA, only my own characters. This is something I've been working on in the background for a while. Let me know if you all would be interested in reading more!**


	2. Who Knocks?

"She couldn't take her eyes off me." Tig said with a audible smile. I had read the same sentence of the letter from Ma four times.

"If you don't shut up, the next thing coming out of your mouth will be your teeth." I growled as I finally moved on to another line. He'd been running his mouth for the last twenty minutes. I almost wanted to bunk with Juice, but not quite.

Ma's letter was pretty much a two paged lecture about staying safe so she could kill me when I got out. It made me smile to know she still had her fighting spirit, even if she was sick. I folded the letter back up and stuck it under my pillow. She knew I probably wouldn't write back, but that didn't stop her from sending me a letter at least twice a week.

"Goodnight, Hap." Tig said with a knock to the underside of my bunk. I shook my head and stared up at the ceiling.

"Shut up." I snapped at him. I knew Tig was trying to get under my skin for his own entertainment, but I wasn't in the mood. I heard every movement outside our cell throughout the night. The doors were locked, but that didn't make me feel any safer. Until this deal was settled, I wasn't going to get much sleep, especially at night.

For some damn reason, that new guard kept popping up in my head. She'd seen me staring at her and stared right the fuck back. I didn't feel like arguing with Tig, but I knew she was staring at me. I didn't know if that made her tough or stupid, but seeing as she was a chick, it seemed pretty stupid. I thought Clay was finally going to have that heart attack when she offered to shake his hand.

When she'd walked back to the desk, Tig and Bobby argued about whether or not her boobs were real. Juice piped in that she looked pretty natural to him. I sat there the whole time, just staring at her. Something about the way her dark blue eyes looked back at me irked me.

"Inspection in fifteen minutes." A female voice called from outside the door. Tig shot up so fast he smacked his head on the bottom of my bunk. I couldn't help but laugh as he yelped.

"Shut up, Happy. Think she'd kiss it and make it better?" Tig asked as he pulled his jeans on. I looked over at him and shook my head before hopping down and starting to straighten the blankets that had gotten wrinkled overnight. I glanced down at Tig's bunk and gritted my teeth.

"Is there a reason your damn bunk always looks like you fucked in the sheets?" I growled as I pulled on my wife beater and started brushing my teeth. Tig laughed as he started making his bed.

"No blood on them so no sex." Tig said, still laughing. I spat out the toothpaste and cut my eyes at him.

"Not going to ask which way you meant that." I decided out loud as a knock rang out on the door. Tig and I looked at each other dumbfounded. A couple seconds later, the door swung open to reveal Recker, standing there with a smile.

"What?" She asked, her smile faltering a little as we just kept staring at her. I smirked and shook my head.

"It's prison, darlin'." Tig said with a laugh as he and I finally moved to the empty wall for inspection. Recker looked around, nodding now and then before turning back to Tig.

"Yeah, so?" She asked, obviously offended by his laughing. Her nose creased a little with her scowl. I don't know why the fuck I noticed that.

"Who the fuck knocks on doors in prison?" I finally asked since Tig was still trying to stop laughing. Recker turned her eyes on me and folded her arms across her chest. I couldn't help notice how it made her boobs easier to see.

"I can be a bitch if you want. I'm just trying to show some mutual respect." She snapped. I scowled back at her. Her attitude made me want to push her up against a wall and let her know just who she was smarting off to.

"Sorry, Recker. Just not used to respect from CO's" Tig said, finally sobering up from his laughter. Her face relaxed as she nodded and headed out of the cell, closing the door slowly behind her.

"She's no CO. Too nice." I said as I stepped off the wall. Tig nodded and hitched a shoulder.

"Won't last long if you ask me. Those assholes will walk all over her. You see that ass on her though? I might get some contraband and hide it down low just to watch her bend over." Tig said with a glimmer in his eye. I smirked and nodded in complete agreement.

"Should know something about the deal with Alvarez today." I said with a nod, changing the subject so I didn't have an even worse case of blue balls. Tig nodded seriously.

That afternoon, Clay gave us what details he had on the deal at recreation. I had a feeling there was more to it, but agreed on it as a means to an end. We'd deal with the repercussions outside, meaning we'd live to get out. That's all I cared about.

We were set up with brown backing us, so I was able to relax just enough to eat dinner in the chow hall. The hamburger was the closest thing to real food they served, so I was glad my stomach unknotted a little.

I was actively listening to Tig and Juice arguing about the Jelly Bean strippers in the middle of the dayroom when a loud bang made me jump to my feet. I looked around quickly, trying to find the threat. Recker was facing off with some big, black guy who stayed in the cell below Tig and I. He'd apparently shoved her computer off the desk and she was pissed.

For some reason, I felt like I needed to go over there. I wasn't the type of person that helped old ladies cross the street or rescue cats out of trees, but I also didn't stand for beating women. I'd make sure they knew their place, but I knew I was too big to hit one.

Recker moved quick, but not quick enough. The guy's palm connected with the side of her face, causing her to stumble a little from the weight he put behind it. She got in a nearly perfect boxing stance and kicked out, connected the top of her boot to the side of his calf. I knew he would barely feel it. He was thrown off just long enough for her to stomp her heel down on his shin and move behind him quickly. She had cuffs around one wrist and was trying to get the other when he threw his elbow back and connected hard with her face.

She shook her head but didn't stop fighting. Instead, she dug her knuckle into the pressure point on the side of his neck and forced him down to the ground. Recker slammed her knee into the middle of his back and slapped on the other cuff just as her back up showed up. Tig, Bobby, Clay, Juice and I headed upstairs to stand by our cells, knowing better than to stay downstairs with the response team in the unit.

"Damn, she took a hit but she's not dead. I think I'm scared. It's sexy." Tig said with a laugh as he ogled Recker. She was arguing with Wright, who I hated, but seemed to be okay.

"Yeah." Is the only response Tig got out of me as I watched Recker's hair fall down her back.

"What do you mean, it's nothing, Kat?" Declan pulled the bag of frozen peas down from my face and winced. I shook my hand free and put the bag back on my eye carefully.

"I mean it's nothing, Declan. Risk is just part of the job. The guy was huge and I got a black eye. I can fend for myself." I said for what felt like the thousandth time during our relationship.

"You shouldn't even be working there. As soon as we get married, your last name will give away who you are and then you'll be a target." He said as he stroked my hand softly. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

Declan's parents owned a lot of land in Oakland, so he thought he was some type of higher power ever since they turned it over to him. I loved Declan, but sometimes it was obvious we were from two different solar systems.

My parents had worked their asses off for everything thing they had. I still hate to think about how hard it must have been on my mother to send me to California when I turned eighteen. I'd dreamed of being an actress ever since I was a toddler, and they supported me 110%. In a way, I'm glad that they passed away before realizing that I should have just stayed in Australia after all.

"I'm not going to sit around and be a housewife, Declan. I told you I'm just doing this until I find something better." I said angrily. Had Declan not fussed over me like I was required to follow his rules, I may not have been so angry. His smile only made it worse.

"I'm sorry, Kat. It's just cute that your accent comes out when you're mad. I just don't want you getting hurt." He said as he wrapped his arms around me. I didn't say anything as I tossed the peas back into the freezer and headed off to bed. Declan followed me and watched as I stripped my uniform pants and shirt off slowly.

"Still sure about not having sex until we get married?" I asked in a low voice. Declan ran his hand over his face and sighed. I already knew how the conversation would go.

"Katerina, I told you we couldn't. I promised my mother that we would stop having sex and wait until we get married. You realize if she were to find out, I'd lose my whole inheritance?" Declan said with a frown. I narrowed my eyes and pulled on basketball shorts and a t-shirt before climbing in bed.

"It's been almost a year, Declan. Does she have cameras in here or something? I still can't believe you agreed to that without talking to me. You knew I wouldn't agree to it." I said as I yanked the sheets up over me. Declan didn't bother arguing and got into bed silently, facing the opposite direction.

If he had told me he wanted to wait for religion or something, I may not have been as against it. Instead, his mother used it as a way to tighten her grip around him. So, I was unhappily celibate so my fiancé could keep his inheritance. I had to remember to get new batteries for my vibrator, because we still had a long seven months to go.

I woke up and showered quickly, making every effort not to wake Declan up as I tended to my needs in the shower. I was able to reach an orgasm, but it wasn't the same as sex. I drank down a kale smoothie quickly before grabbing the lunch he'd packed me last night and heading to work physically unsatisfied. I should be used to it by now, but something was making it harder to tolerate recently.

"How's the eye?" A raspy voice asked. I looked up from my new computer and took a minute before answering. Lowman was standing in front of me with his arms folded across his chest. I could see what Brown was talking about, he definitely wasn't someone you want to run into in a dark alley.

"I've had worse." I said with a shrug. Lowman smirked and nodded silently. I expected him to leave and go back to the rest of the Sons, but he stayed still.


	3. Popping Out

"Bad night?" He asked, speaking more than he normally ever did. I realized he was probably talking to me to distract me from something, but I didn't really care at the moment.

"You could say that. I've got eight more hours to be pissed before I go home and act happy." I scoffed. I suddenly realized I'd said more than I should have. Lowman raised his brow.

"Damn. It's sad when you'd rather be here than home." He said, shaking his head. I couldn't have agreed with him more. I pulled a desk draw open and tossed a sandwich on the desk.

"If I give you that will you leave me alone?" I asked, hoping he'd go away before I said more than I should again. He picked it up and sniffed it before tossing it back on the desk.

"The fuck is that shit?" He asked, snarling at the sandwich like it'd hit him. I laughed and tossed it in the garbage can.

"Vegemite, my boyfriend thinks I like it just because I'm from Australia. I hate the stuff." I said with a grimace as I realized I spoke too much, yet again. Lowman cocked his head to the side a little and narrowed his eyes.

"Boyfriend or fiancé?" He asked with an amused expression. I narrowed my eyes at him and shook my head.

"It's really none of your business. Don't you need to be doing something?" I snapped, turning my attention back to the computer screen. Lowman laughed and headed off. The computer froze up and I picked up the keyboard and slammed it back down, more out of frustration than any type of attempt to fix it.

I looked out across the dayroom and realized that Lowman did nothing to help my frustration. The way his tattoos flowed down from underneath his shirt and the way his muscles moved when he walked stirred me up. I shook my head and shoved away from the desk as I called for a break on the radio.

A few minutes later, Wright walked through the door and jingled his keys at me. I rolled my eyes and headed out of the unit quickly, acutely aware that Lowman was watching me the whole time.

"You think she knows slamming stuff doesn't fix the computer?" Juice asked with a laugh after Recker left the unit. I shrugged and turned back to the card game Clay and Bobby were playing. The whole time I'd talked to Recker, Clay had been on a burner cell phone over in the corner. The cameras couldn't see there, but it would have been obvious to any CO had they looked around.

We were wasting time as much as we could. Whether it was card games or basketball at recreation, we tried to stay busy. The less you do, the more you think about being inside. Ma had sent me another letter, to which I was actually planning on writing back just to kill time.

Count and lockdown came and went and Recker was still on post, over fourteen hours since she'd gotten there this morning. Tig was sawing logs below me as I stuffed the letter in the envelope and hopped down from my bunk quietly. I thought about waiting until the morning to put it in the mail, but I wanted to see her.

I ran one of Tig's clean socks between the door and the frame and pushed once it got over the lock. The door popped open easily, even though it put a huge hole in his sock. I tossed it back onto his chair and swore to buy him another pair so he wouldn't bitch too much. Recker was sitting at the desk, clicking the mouse over and over. The lack of attention she was paying ticked me off. It could easily get her hurt in here.

I dropped the letter in the mailbox and made my way across the day room. I stood in front of her desk silently for at least five minutes before she noticed. She jumped back and covered her mouth to keep the yelp from echoing. I narrowed my eyes and nodded.

"Maybe you should pay more attention. I could have killed you and gone back to bed already." I said as her breathing slowed down a little. She stood up quickly and looked around.

"What, how are you even out? Where's your fucking shirt?" She asked, staring at my bare chest. I smirked.

"Doors don't do much. Why are you staring at me?" I asked with a small growl. The way her eyes moved over me made me want to bend her over the desk.

"I'm not." She lied, looking up towards my cell. I laughed and sat down on the edge of the desk. It looked like she was trying to decide whether to yell at me or not. She ended up sitting back down in the chair.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." I said, realizing I may have been scaring her. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back.

"I didn't think you were going to. You know we have cameras." She said, gesturing up towards the camera to the right. I nodded.

"Yeah, but they can't see over here and they don't watch them much at night." I said honestly. Recker hitched a shoulder and sighed.

"You're staring." She said with a hint of a smile. I nodded silently. She laughed and leaned forward.

"Please go back to bed. I can't deal with this right now." She said lightly. Her expression threw me off. She didn't look annoyed or worried, she looked sad. I turned my head a little and looked at her from the corner of my eye.

"Sure." I threw over my shoulder as I headed back upstairs to the cell. I hadn't meant to talk to her. All I was planning on doing was mailing the letter to Ma and getting back in the cell after taking a quick look at her. I was kind of glad I didn't.

"Sweetheart, have you seen my tie?" Declan called from the bedroom. I was waiting for him to finish getting dressed so we could go have brunch with my future in-laws, again. I stood up from the couch and walked straight into his closet and pulled it out of the drawer it was always in.

"You can't even find anything when it's in the right place." I said with a light tone as he tied it quickly. He gave me a shrug and grabbed his sport coat before ushering me out of the door as if I was why we were going to be late.

"Declan, your father and I were starting to worry you'd been in some horrific accident!" Declan's mother, Pamela Frost said as she pulled her son into her arms. She let him go and gave me an obviously forced smile.

"Nice you could take the time off from that horrid job this week, Katerina." Pamela threw over her shoulder as she led Declan and I back to their normal table. As usual, we were eating at the Frost's favorite restaurant, which happened to be the country club they always bragged about.

"I hope you don't mind I ordered you water, Katerina. I figured with the wedding coming up you'd want to make sure to fit in that dress." Pamela said, gesturing towards the water in front of what would be my seat. She always sat Declan and I across from one another so I was stuck between her and Teddy.

The waiter came and took our orders as soon as Declan and I were seated. I ordered a waffle just to spite Pamela's assumption I needed to lose weight. Pamela prided herself in being a former Ms. California contestant and always had an opinion about my weight.

According to Pamela, if you weren't rail thin with no ass or boobs, you were obese. I happened to like how my body looked, even if it wasn't getting me any action any more. I trained at least four days a week in either boxing or yoga, so I stayed toned and healthy. Of course Pamela saw muscle as fat and I'd given up trying to educate her long ago.

"So, Katerina, Declan tells me you've been looking in to finishing your degree." Teddy said with a smile. I glanced over at Declan before shaking my head.

"I thought about it, but it's not something I have time for right now. Between work, the gym, and planning the wedding, I barely have time to sleep." I said with an honest laugh. Teddy shook his head as he swallowed down some coffee.

"Teddy, leave it alone. Once she and Declan have children, she'll be at home with the babies. What since is wasting money on a degree she'll never use?" Pamela said with a tickled laugh. I shot Declan a look.

"Mom, I told you. Katerina wants to work. She doesn't have to stay home with the kids." Declan said as he took his mother's hand in his. I wanted to revise his statement to make a point that I wasn't sure about children, but my phone started vibrating.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this. It's work." I excused myself from the table and walked out on the patio. I looked around and realized my dress was probably two inches shorter than any one else's.

"Recker." I said as I answered the call. I could hear some alarms in the background and people barking orders.

"Recker! I know it's your day off but I was really needing to leave early. You think you could cover for me?" Wright's voice pleaded. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, even though he couldn't see me.

"No, Wright I'm sorry. I've got family stuff all day." I was only half lying. After brunch, Declan and I were going to the movies and then I was going to the gym for a few hours. Wright groaned.

"Alright, I'll try calling somebody else. I miss this date and I'm blaming you." He said with a laugh. I forced a laugh and ended the call.

"Did a prisoner escape?" Declan said with a teasing smile. I laughed and shook my head as I took my seat. Pamela looked down her nose at me. We finished brunch with less talk about me and more talk about Declan and some development deal, much to my relief.

"Could we not do that again for at least a couple weeks?" I asked Declan with a relived smile after we closed the car doors. He laughed and took my hand in his.

"Well, at least for a week. I'm sorry they're pushy with you. They only want the best for the both of us. I love you, Kat." He kissed the back of my hand lightly before pulling out of the parking lot.

"I am very much my own person, love. Let's just go watch the movie and be us again." I said as I leaned closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. I was tired of people trying to change me. I just wanted to be loved by the man I met at the coffee shop.

"You think it'd be weird if I wrote a croweater?" Tig asked the table as we sat down for chow. I nodded silently and the others laughed.

"Which one would you write anyway?" Juice asked with a full mouth of what we were told was meatloaf. Personally, I thought it looked a lot more like emu meat.

"I don't know. Could just mail it to the clubhouse addressed to blonde croweater. One of them would get it." Tig said with a shrug as he surveyed the room.

"Looking for something?" I asked, alarmed by his darting eyes. Protected by brown or not, I wasn't letting my guard down that much. Tig shook his head and waved it off.

"Nah man, just hoping to see blondie. Starting to forget what she looks like." Tig said with a dejected face. I shook my head and went back to stabbing my emu. If I didn't get some actual protein I was going to get soft, which pissed me off.

"You know Wright's trying to hit that." Juice said like a gossipy old woman. Bobby and Tig ate it up as Clay and I were forced to listen.

"Seriously? She's not just out of his league, they aren't even playing the same game." Tig said with a laugh as he aimed a disgusted look across the room at Wright. Bobby laughed loudly, drawing some attention from neighboring tables and guards.

"Shut it. You sound like old ladies instead of Sons." Clay said curtly. The table fell quiet as the insult sunk in. I was glad they quit talking about Wright and Recker. The mental image didn't sit right with me at all.

"The fuck are you lookin at?" I asked a skinhead as he walked by our table towards the end of chow. A smile started curling at the corner of his lips, causing my grip to tighten around my fork.

"Leave it, Hap. We got enough shit going on without you getting thrown in the hole or catching new charges." Clay said with a frustration in his voice. I tossed the fork down on the metal tray and listened as he filled us in about the IRA shipments and other business beyond the walls.

In a way, it felt good to think about something past the fence. It reminded me that we still had brothers and charters busting their asses so we had something to come home to. On the other hand, it also reminded me that I wasn't part of it.

The only thing that really got my mind off of being locked up was Recker. It started off as a nice set of tits and ass to look at, but she wasn't bad to talk to either. None of the club knew about the visits I made after lockdown; partly because I didn't want to hear shit and partly because if Clay knew, he'd try to use her as an asset.

Days when Recker didn't work were the hardest to get through. Instead of looking forward to eye fucking her, I got frustrated and started yearning for a fight. That's the type of shit that got you hurt or new charges doing time. As Clay pointed out, I didn't need to do either.

So, instead I would shoot hoops with Tig or lift weights with Juice and Clay until I was worn out. Then, after chow and count, I'd sleep as much as possible. The only time I really stayed out in the dayroom when Recker wasn't on post was when Clay called a meeting. Other than that, I tried to sleep my time away.

A couple weeks after the first night I popped out of the cell, I noticed Recker starting to work more and more. No one complained, considering she wasn't a hardass, but I started wondering why. By the looks of the rock on her finger, she didn't need the money. Eventually, I stopped asking myself why the fuck it mattered to me and just let it be.


	4. Katerina

**TWO MONTHS LATER**

"Do you ever sleep?" I asked Lowman as he made his way over to the desk. He had been popping out of his cell every night I'd worked over, which was most of them. He shrugged and sat down on the corner of the desk as he took a carrot from my plastic container.

"Do you? You're always here." Lowman retorted in his raspy voice I'd grown pretty fond of. I was well aware of the fact that I was getting too friendly with him, but the more I fought it, the more it happened.

"Touché. Are you going to eat all my carrots?" I asked with a laugh as he took another one. He took a bite and offered it to me.

"You're talkative tonight." He mumbled through the carrot he was still chewing. I tried to ignore his comment. "How's the fiancé?"

I shook my head silently. Declan was probably the reason I'd been more talkative with Lowman recently. He and his mother had decided that it didn't look good on them for me to work at a prison. I didn't exactly love my job, but it was the principle of the matter. It wasn't Declan's place to tell me where I could work, much less his mother's. The lack of sex didn't help matters either.

"That great, huh?" Lowman guessed as he handed me a piece of celery. I cringed inwardly as I realized how well he knew my diet. I rarely ate carrots and always devoured celery. To be honest, I brought the carrots for him.

"Yeah, it's bloody wonderful." I snapped, realizing I may as well give him confirmation since he seemed to know already. Lowman smirked and popped his knuckles.

"Need me to hurt him? If it can wait a year, I'll do it." He said with a joking laugh. It was rare of him to be so light in mood. I couldn't help but like it.

"No, that's okay. I appreciate the offer. Can I ask you something completely unprofessional?" I said quickly and against better judgment. Lowman laughed and smiled.

"I'm an inmate. I don't give a fuck if you're professional or not, Recker." He tossed another carrot into his mouth and looked at me expectantly. I regretted opening that door as I realized how personal my question was.

"What are you in for?" I asked quickly as I tried to cover for the real question racing through my mind. He shook his head and narrowed his eyes.

"Bullshit. You can look that up. What were you really going to ask?" He growled as he started getting an impatient look in his eyes. I sighed and looked away from him purposefully.

"Theoretically, if you were engaged to someone, would you stop fucking them because your mother told you to?" I asked as quickly as I could. I peeked back at him to see an open mouth full of carrot before he closed it quickly.

"Uh, theoretically, does the person I'm engaged to look like you?" Lowman asked with a dark smirk. I just narrowed my eyes. He leaned forward, closer than he'd ever gotten to me before. He smelled like carrots and body wash.

"I love my ma, but no. No one could tell me to stop fucking you. Or whoever I'm supposed to be engaged to." He said with that delicious rasp. I felt my whole body heat up at his words and his proximity to me. I swallowed hard and nodded.

"That why you're such a bitch in the mornings? Not getting enough at home?" Lowman asked with a smirk as he pulled away. I couldn't tell if I was happy he'd moved or not.

"Try any. Hell, at this point I should have a fucking addict's chip for it. God, I shouldn't be talking to you about this." I said, rubbing my forehead with my palm. Lowman shrugged and stood up.

"Come here." He growled as he walked around my desk. I felt frozen in place as he stood mere inches away from the chair. My mind was yelling no, but my body thawed and started moving.

"What? Lowman, what are you doing?" I asked as he stood still in front of me, arms to his side.

"What's your first name?" His whisper came out as a growl. I swallowed hard and looked up into his eyes, realizing just how much taller he was.

"Katerina." I choked out in a whisper. Lowman nodded and ran a hand over his scalp, scratching at the snake tattoo towards the back.

"What would you do if I touched you?" He asked with a softer expression than he ever had during the day.

"It depends on why you did it." The words escaped from my mouth before I could stop my self. I started wondering if my celery was drugged. Lowman nodded slowly and brushed my hair behind my ear. I felt chills running throughout my body at the slight brush of his skin that I felt on my ear.

"Katerina, I'd never stop fucking you." Lowman growled softly before cupping my face with his hand and pressing his lips to mine. I felt my heart stop as my mouth returned his kiss, moving in a rhythm that was picking up quickly. The watch on my wrist beeped once and Lowman pulled back.

We both knew it was getting too close to time for my relief to show up. I'd be in enough shit if someone saw him out of his cell, much less making out behind the desk. He smiled down at me before turning to head upstairs.

"Hey, Recker. After lockdown, you can drop the last name shit." He said quietly over his shoulder before hurrying up the stairs, making no sound at all. His cell door clicked shut as I fell back in my chair, still recovering from the last couple minutes. My fingers traced over my slightly swollen lips as they curved up into a smile.

I knew I really fucked up. It wasn't just my job I was putting on the line. I was engaged, after all. I heard the jingle of keys on the other side of the door a few minutes later, breaking into my thoughts.

I felt like a fucking teenager as I snuck back in my bunk. Not only was I sneaking around in the middle of the night, but my balls hurt like hell. As much as I hated to, I pulled one out to relieve the pressure and frustration. It barely helped at all and I groaned as I heard Tig snoring the whole time.

I'd wanted to touch her for a long time, but I'd always known better. Something about the way she talked to me tonight and the pain in her voice when she asked me about fucking pushed me over the edge. I realized I didn't just want a release, I honestly wanted her to feel wanted.

"Hap, you going to sleep all day? Bobby asked as he stuck his head in the door. I groaned and rolled over. Ever since I'd started talking to Recker at night, I slept during the day. Today was different though. Today Jax was coming back to general population.

"Nah, I'm up." I lied as I rubbed the sleep out of my eye. I climbed down from the bunk and splashed water on my face to wake me up. Bobby shook his head and leaned against the door.

"Brother, we've got protection. You don't have to watch your back all night. You need to sleep." Bobby said as I dried my face off and pulled on my shirt. I shot a look over at him.

"You sound like Ma." I grumbled as I followed him out of the cell. I had to concentrate on not falling down the stairs once I saw Recker. Instead of her normal uniform, she was wearing khaki pants and a green polo shirt.

"Those pants look a hell of a lot better than the uniform." Tig said as he let out a low whistle. I felt the need to hit him, hard.

"When's Jax getting here?" I asked, forcing the change of subject as I kept glancing over at her. She was doing rounds and every step she took emphasized the curve of her ass that much more.

"Any minute now. Recker said he's in transit. She's in a lot better mood than she normally is in the morning. I was almost afraid to ask after breakfast." Juice said with a laugh as he threw down an ace of hearts. He and Tig were playing Go Fish! again.

"Yeah, I got it. You can bring him in, Wright." Recker said into her radio as she walked past my back and towards the door. I elbowed Tig and nodded towards the opening door.

"The prodigal son returns!" Clay bellowed as Jax walked in the unit with a smile. Wright narrowed his eyes as he shoved Jax against the wall. He took off his ankle shackles and cuffs roughly before turning to Recker.

"You need to search him and his shit. I'll stay here and make sure he doesn't give you any trouble." Wright said to an annoyed Recker. I knew he'd been trying to get with her for over a while now. She snarled any time he was mentioned or showed up. She nodded with a sigh before pulling on gloves and walking over to Jax.

"Go ahead and put your hands on the wall and take a step back for me." Recker said softly. Wright was scowling at her back. She knew about Jax's injuries and was obviously taking it easy on him as far as not rushing him. Jax did exactly as she asked, even spreading his feet without being told.

Recker patted his shoulders and chest down quickly, purposefully skipping over his injury site. She patted down his jeans thoroughly before stepping back and tapping him on the shoulder.

"You're good. I'll bring you your stuff in a few minutes. Go see your friends, they asked about you all the time." She said with a friendly smile. Jax looked surprised but headed over to us happily. He didn't make it two steps before Wright told him to stop.

"Officer Recker, you need to redo that pat down. What you just did could put yourself in danger. He could have a shank." Wright snapped before ordering Jax back to the wall. I could tell my brother was getting pissed.

"I'm sorry, do you mind going back?" Recker was asking to be polite, even though Jax had no choice. Wright stepped forward and grabbed her wrist, yanking her around to face him. I was off the table and headed to kick his ass before Tig caught the back of my shirt. Juice jumped in and grabbed my arm to help Tig stop me.

"Woah there, Killer." Tig said as I yanked my arm away from Juice. Recker glanced over at me as she ripped her wrist out of Wright's hand.

"Officer Wright, this is my unit and I take complete responsibility for it. If you have a problem with it, take it up with the captain. You don't have any rank here." She snapped before calling for the unit door.

"So, I'm getting patted down or not?" Jax asked, looking back at the two officers. Recker shook her head and pointed towards our table.

"No, Teller. You're good." She said with a smile as she opened the door and waved for Wright to exit through it. As soon as his trailing foot crossed the threshold, she slammed the door shut behind him.

"Glad to see you, brother." I said, giving Jax a quick hug, careful not to jar him too much. He nodded and smiled brightly as everyone welcomed him.

"I've been worried about you all having it rough and I see this shit? Since when do CO's look like that?" Jax asked with a laugh as he slugged Juice playfully on the arm.

"She's great to look at but she's the best CO we've got to. She seems nice." Juice said with a smile. Clay laughed.

"No one cares if she's nice or not. Just nice to look at." Clay said, licking his bottom lip a little. I felt my stomach tighten.

The six of us talked business and the deal for a while before heading to dinner. Jax was disappointed that the food wasn't any better than in the infirmary.

"Clay, you heard from Gemma recently?" Jax asked as he chewed a piece of bread. Clay nodded and finished his juice off.

"Sure, had a visit with her a few days ago. Why?" Clay asked as Jax's face darkened a little.

"I've been trying to call Tara but she won't take the calls. Did Mom say anything about her?" He asked, tossing the roll back down on his tray.

"Said she was getting bigger and helping around the garage some." Clay said carefully. I wanted to remind Jax of the circumstances of his attack, but figured it wasn't my place.

He didn't mention Tara again for the rest of the day. I don't think many of us really minded all that much. Personally, she wasn't old lady material in my books. She wasn't ride or die and you had to be in this club, even if you were just an old lady.

As soon as we locked down for count, Tig slapped me on my shoulder. I glared at him and shook my head for him to back off.

"The fuck was that earlier? You going to jump on a guard because he wanted to be an ass? Jax wasn't going to die if he got patted down again." Tig said with a scowl. I shook my head in silence.

"Unless it wasn't about Jax. You get worked up over Recker?" Tig asked, suddenly turning psychic. I shot him a look and pointed at him.

"Mind your business, Tig. Just leave it." I said with a threatening tone that would deter most people. Not Tig.

"Damn, Happy. Eye fucking has got you that worked up over a bitch? Don't say another word about me being desperate." He said with a laugh. I turned my body towards him and took a deep breath.

"Tig, if you're smart, you'll shut up and not say shit about it to anyone, including me. I don't want to fucking talk." I said, doing my best to keep from strangling him. Tig held up his hands.

"Whoa, okay Hap. I get the point." Tig said as I backed off and leaned up against the bunks. He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it.


	5. A year or 12 months?

"What was your big plan, Happy? Fight a guard?" I asked as soon as he walked up to the desk at his usual time. He shook his head and sat on the corner.

"You can take care of yourself. He just pissed me off grabbing you." Happy explained with a sigh. I appreciated his confidence in my ability to take care of myself.

"Yeah, well if you go to the hole, who is going to talk to me at night?" I said with a smile, lightening the subject as I grabbed my vegetable bowl out of the mini fridge. Happy smirked and grabbed a carrot quickly.

"Juice would talk to you. He said you were in a better mood this morning. Why's that, Katerina? You finally get some from your fiancé?" He asked before snapping a carrot in two with his teeth. I blushed deeply.

"Yeah right. I slept on the couch last night." I told him openly. Once I'd gotten home, it was a little past three and Declan was sound asleep. I didn't want to wake him, so I settled in to the couch.

I'd had some personal time with my vibrator, as usual, before going to sleep. This time was different. This time, I had thought about the tattooed convict sitting on my desk instead of my fiancé who was in our bed.

"What are you blushing about, woman?" Happy was smiling as he watched me snap out of the memory. I shook my head and bit in to some celery to keep from talking.

"Happy, I can't do whatever this is. I'm engaged and getting married in less than six months." I groaned as I looked up at him. I knew he probably had somebody on the outside, and I was stupid for letting it go this far.

"I'm just eating carrots, Katerina. What can't you do? Kiss me?" Happy asked with a teasing smile as he popped another carrot in his mouth. I rolled my eyes and folded my arms flat on the desk, burying my face in them.

"Seriously, Happy. This whole getting to know each other and making out doesn't help shit at home. I'm sure your girlfriend or wife wouldn't be happy about it either." I growled down into the desk. I looked up when I heard him laugh.

"Don't have one. You're the CO. If you don't want me here, tell me to leave and I'll go back to my cell." Happy said, raising his brow at me as he waited for a decision. Yet again, I made another poor life decision and shook my head.

"It's not time to go yet. I'm not stupid. I know you're just lonely and needy." I said with a laugh as he handed me a carrot. His face fell a little.

"Katerina, I've probably talked to you more in the last two months than I've ever talked to any woman besides my Ma. Don't talk about shit you just think you know." Happy growled as he pushed the bowl away from him. My jaw went slack with shock. I knew I shouldn't feel any way towards another man, especially an inmate, but it was too late now.

I looked at the clock and then around the unit. Luckily, none of the George cell doors had open windows, I kept the flaps shut at all times. I knew if I took a minute to think, I would stop myself. So instead, I nudged his shoulder and nodded for him to come around the desk. He narrowed his eyes at me but did as I suggested.

"What, Katerina?" Happy was standing in front of me in nothing but his jeans and shoes. I bit down on my lip and looked up at him with hooded eyes. He took the cue and kissed me, hard. My mouth picked up his rhythm and matched it eagerly. He slid a hand around from my hip to my ass and tightened a little, causing my lips to part with a moan.

Happy slid his tongue into my mouth and I was completely lost in how he felt and tasted. I found my hands sliding up his chest and wrapping around the back of his neck as he leaned down to me. He took a step forward and pulled me up onto the desk. I felt my heart race as his hands rested on either thigh.

"You have three seconds to stop me, Katerina." Happy said as he pulled back and looked me in the eye. I shook my head and grinned.

"I love when you say my name." I purred as he squeezed my thighs and nipped at my neck. His muscles rippled as I ran a finger down from his collarbone to his stomach, tracing the deep indention near his hips. He groaned and yanked my shirt out from underneath my pants.

"How much time we got?" He growled as he ran his hands over the skin he'd uncovered beneath my shirt. I looked down at my watch.

"Forty-five minutes until you need to go back upstairs. An hour before my relief gets here." I panted as he circled a nipple with his thumb. A smile lit his face up in the fairly dark unit.

"Sorry, but we probably won't need that long this time." He said with a shrug as he pulled the shirt over my head quickly. I went to undo my bra, but he pushed my hand away, smirking as he took care of it himself. As he did, I pulled the elastic band out of my hair and let it fall down. Happy grabbed a fistful of it and held on to it as he licked a circle around my nipple before biting it softly and moving on to the other one.

I pulled on the button of his jeans, happy to see his zipper was already down. He smirked as he watched my eyes widen once I'd run my hand over his member.

"How long's it been?" Happy asked as he undid my pants and pulled them down to my ankles as I toed my boots off. I bit my bottom lip as I gripped him over his boxers.

"Which sounds better a year or twelve months?" I asked with a shy smile. Happy smirked and shook his head.

"Neither. You're going to be sore tomorrow." He said flatly. I could tell he wasn't bragging, just giving me fair warning. I nodded and moaned quietly as he slid two fingers over my lips and just around my yearning opening.

"God you're wet, Katerina." Happy growled as he slid his fingers in me and then back out and up to my sensitive nub. I moaned as I watched him lick his fingers with a smile.

"I obviously don't have any condoms. Are you clean?" I asked, hoping it wouldn't kill the mood. Happy laughed and nodded as he slid his boxers down to his ankles where his jeans were gathered. I felt my mouth go dry as I looked at not only the length, but width of his dick.

"I guess I'm pulling out then?" He asked as slid me closer to the edge of the desk. I shook my head adamantly. Sex or no sex, I stayed on the shot to keep from dealing with monthly cycles. Happy's eyes lit up and he directed his tip up and down my lips and clit before entering me slowly.

"Oh god." I said with a moan as I felt my insides stretch beyond reason. I was filled completely and it felt wonderful. My vibrator wasn't going to cut it anymore after this.

"Fuck this." Happy groaned as he hit his knee on the desk. He picked me up by the ass and pinned my back up against the wall as my legs wrapped around his waist.

He thrust into me hard and breathed heavily onto my neck. I felt myself build up quickly as he rocked his hips and licked at my skin. I dug my nails into his back harder than I should have as I clinched around him. The wave of pleasure hit me so hard it almost hurt, sending shocks up from my clit to my neck and down to my toes.

"Bloody hell, Happy. God it feels so good." I moan/whispered into his ear. His breath caught and he bit his teeth into my shoulder as he found his release, just as mine ended. He swirled his tongue around his teeth marks before putting me back down on the desk.

"Fuck, Katerina. You're so tight." He said with a smile as he pulled out of me and wiped himself off with a paper towel before handing me one. I took a couple, hoping to dry up the pool between my legs.

"Maybe, but I think you're just huge, Happy." I said with a laugh as I tossed the paper towels in the garbage and starting getting dressed again. Happy smirked as he pulled his boxers and jeans back on.

"Maybe. I didn't believe you were from Australia until you came." He said as he tried to hold back a laugh. I rolled my eyes and nodded as I pulled my polo over my head.

"Yeah, I can't really control it sometimes. Like during mind blowing sex." I said with a laugh and he turned back to go to the other side of the desk. My eyes widened as I saw the back of his shoulders. Even in the dim light, my nail marks were clearly visible.

"You may want to wear a shirt. I kind of clawed your shoulders." I said with a blush. He nodded.

"Yeah, I know. Don't really want to answer any questions about that. This needs to stay between you and me, Katerina." Happy ran his hand up my arm, pausing and circling his thumb in the bend of my elbow.

"Yeah, it does. Not only is it no one's business, it's illegal." I said, remembering the multiple classes on the Prison Rape Elimination Act we'd had at the academy. It wasn't just inmate on inmate, any sexual acts with an inmate were highly illegal, even if they were between two consenting adults. As they said in training, 'No means no and yes is not allowed'.

"You're off tomorrow aren't you?" Happy groaned as he took one last carrot and stood up. I swallowed hard and nodded, knowing I was going for a dress fitting didn't sit right with me at the moment. Happy nodded back and leaned down, kissing me softly before heading back up stairs.

"Kit Kat, you need to get up. You've got to meet Mom at the shop in less than an hour." Declan said as he nudged my shoulder. I groaned and let out a loud sigh as I threw the covers off and swung my feet down to the floor. As soon as I stood up, I realized last night hadn't been some dream. The soreness made it impossible to have any type of plausible deniability.

"Please tell me Lauren is going to act somewhat decent at the shop." Declan called from the bed as I brushed my teeth. I scrubbed harder to take the time to filter myself.

Lauren was the first friend I made after moving to California. She and I bonded over trying to make it big, and supported each other when it didn't work out. We'd moved north of LA once we realized dreams didn't pay the bills. She eventually opened her own bar, which I technically owned part of and we'd lived together up until Declan and I started getting serious.

"Declan, Lauren is an adult. I'm not going to ask her to pretend she's someone else just to please your mother. I do that enough for the both of us." I muttered as I started to put my hair up. As I looked in the mirror, I realized two things.

First, I needed to throw some concealer on my shoulder and wear my hair down. Secondly, I was in desperate need of a good, long talk with Lauren. Just thinking about the conversation had me blushing and nervous.

"Sweetheart, why are you putting on a t-shirt? You looked great in the other shirt." Declan asked with a sigh. I knew he was thinking about what his mother would say. I grabbed my keys off the dresser and threw my bag over my shoulder.

"She'll hate whatever I wear. While I'm gone, do me a favor. Think about how much you let your mother run our relationship. I'm getting tired of it." I threw over my shoulder as I headed down to my car.

I pulled up in front of the dress boutique about five minutes late. Lauren was outside smoking an electronic cigarette, obviously waiting on me. Her face lit up as I got out of the car and rushed into her arms.

"K, I've missed you so much! You've got to stop working so much and see me more. You've missed our last two gym dates." Lauren said with an emphasized pout as she finally let me go. As usual, she was in tight jeans and an awesome green, flowing tank top with beaded straps. Her long brown hair cascaded down her back in waves.

"I know, I need to talk to you about that. Drinks afterwards?" I asked as I opened to door for her. She nodded and took a deep breath as Pamela marched over.

"It's about time. Petunia has been waiting patiently." She fussed as she pushed me towards the dressing room. I tossed my bag to Lauren and gave her a pleading look. She laughed and shook her head as she took a complimentary glass of champagne.

"K, if you don't hurry up I'm coming in there and kicking your ass." Lauren said with a laugh as Petunia tied the corset top together. I grinned and relaxed a little.

"Really, Ms. Buckley? We are in a bridal salon, not some bar." Pamela spat. I didn't have to see Lauren's face to know it was far from polite. I took a deep breath and looked in the mirror, making sure the concealer hadn't faded.

"I'm coming out." I announced before taking a deep breath and opening the door. Pamela and Lauren stared in shock as I stepped up to the platform. The dress fit like a glove. It was exactly what I had requested when I ordered it. It had a corset top with a sweetheart neckline and almost sheer panels above a full skirt that shifted from white to a light blue on the way down.

"Katerina, you're freaking gorgeous!" Lauren said as she clapped her hands together and walked around me. I smiled and gave her a little hug before taking the champagne I was being offered.

"Ms. Recker, are you honestly wearing that in our church? It isn't white and don't even get me started on the top you're almost spilling out of." Pamela shrieked as she covered her mouth in horror. I felt a little deflated as I looked down at the dress.

"It's something blue. Get with this fucking century." Lauren snapped as she shot Pamela a nasty look. I looked over at my best friend and felt my bottom lip start to quiver. She knew what was bothering me without any explanation. She pulled me in her arms and rubbed my back.

"Petunia, would you excuse us, please?" Pamela said with a sigh as she walked closer to Lauren and I. Petunia hurried off, seemingly delighted to get away from the drama.

"Katerina, I'm sorry if I offended you, but this is simply unacceptable. Had you invited me to order it with you, we could have avoided this. It's nothing to cry over." Pamela said softly. I shook my head and let out a sigh in a huff.

"Your opinion is not something I would ever cry about. Do you have any idea or care how hard this whole wedding is on me? None of my family, except Lauren, will be there. What's worse, my Mom can't be here to share any of it with me. Instead, you want to criticize every single thing I do." I said, feeling my lack of sleep catching up with me. Lauren bit her lip to keep from adding anything as I sniffed back the final tears.

"Katerina, there are some things we just can't control. I do understand it would be hard to do this without your family. That being said, you cannot wear a blue dress. Did you do this just to spite me?" Pamela snarled as she picked up the bottom of the dress. I snatched it from her hand and stormed off into the dressing room, struggling to get the dress off.

"It was her mother's favorite color. She always planned on doing that since we were teenagers, fucking bitch." Lauren barked as she yanked the dressing room door open and entered to help me get out of the dress.

"I believe I've had enough disrespect for today. Goodbye, Katerina. We'll set up a time to order a new dress." Pamela called through the door as Lauren flipped her off. I stifled a laugh before finally letting out a sigh of relief ounce I heard the door buzzer sound following Pamela's heels clicking on the floor.

"That went awesome." Lauren said with a laugh as she climbed into the passenger seat. I looked over at her and smirked.

"Surprised she didn't comment on the car again today." I nodded and remembered how Pamela had a fit over my Nissan 350z. She'd informed me that it was not only a deathtrap, but it also needed to be sold since I couldn't haul children in it.

"Yeah, well I think she did enough damage." I said finally as I parked the car in front of the bar. The best thing about co-owning a bar was the free alcohol.

"Speaking of damage, what's with the shoulder? You and Declan finally hit the sheets again?" Lauren said with a wag of her brow as the bartender brought us each a margarita. My face tightened in panic. She shook her head, "I don't think the momster-in-law could notice it past the dress. Plus, I was closer to you. Spill, Recker."

"I don't even know where to start, Lauren. I fucked up and the most fucked up part is I don't think I care." I said before taking a big drink of margarita. Lauren cocked her head to the side a little.

"So, what I'm hearing is you fucked somebody else and you don't regret it. Sorry, babe but I would have expected you to do that a year ago. No offense." She said with a shrug. I scratched at the back of my neck uncomfortably.

"That's pretty accurate, but it gets worse." I said with a groan as I tried to stall as much as possible. I wanted to talk about it, but getting it out in the open made it that much more real.

"Uh, K, please tell me it's not that guard that keeps hitting on you. I mean, sex is sex but gross." Lauren said with a laugh. She'd been with me when we ran into Wright at the grocery store one day. She liked to describe him as the comb over guard.

"No, Lauren. Here, I'm just going to show you because I'm not drunk enough to actually say it." I said as I pulled out my phone. I logged into the files the captain had given me regarding the unit and went straight to Happy's information. I clicked on his picture, deciding Lauren knowing his charges wouldn't make it any better.

"Daaaaaaamn babe. He's hot as hell in the; I can kill you and not leave any evidence kind of way. Wait. Shit. Katerina, this is an inmate isn't it. Fuuuuuuck." Lauren's eyes widened as she stared at the screen and sipped on her drink through a straw.

"I know. I told you it got worse. I'm losing my fucking mind." I said as I finished off my drink. Lauren shrugged her shoulders a little and grabbed two beer bottles. She headed over to a VIP booth in the back and took a seat in the corner. She looked like some mob boss.

"Look, K, I get that you haven't gotten any in forever, but an inmate? I mean, yeah, he's hot but he's also a criminal." She sighed and took a swig of beer. "At least you don't have to worry about it complicating shit with Declan. As long as he doesn't find out, you're in the clear."

I took a huge drink of the beer and closed my eyes, trying to see things her way. It was highly unlikely Declan would ever know, unless I told him. I felt horrible for cheating, even though I could justify it in some ways. Still, as simple as it seemed to accept that, something else was digging at my mind.

"You're right." I agreed with her to try and finish convincing myself. It almost worked. Lauren slid the phone back over to me and grinned.

"So, was it good?" She asked with a laugh as I smacked her arm lightly.

"Oh god, yes. I'm hella sore." I said simply. Lauren laughed and nudged me with her booted foot.

"You dirty, dirty girl. I want details or you're paying for the drinks." She threatened. I laughed, calling her bluff before diving into details I could only share with her.


	6. Demonstration

"I'm guessing you didn't hear the news." Tig said as I brushed my teeth after lunch. I shook my head and continued scrubbing.

"Apparently, payback is going to have to wait until we get out. Clay doesn't want anyone in the hole and brown doesn't want the heat. Jax is pissed." Tig said, filling me in on what I'd missed while I was sleeping after breakfast. I spat the toothpaste out and shook my head as I rinsed the toothbrush.

"I would be to. Makes us look weak." I growled as I thought about the Russian pricks that thought they ran this place. Tig nodded and sat back down on his bunk. Wright was on post, so we were lucky to get recreation and chow, the thought of dayroom privileges was laughable.

"You were gone for a long time last night." He said after I started doing push-ups. I looked up at him and narrowed my eyes. The last thing I wanted was for the club to know about Katerina and I.

"Are you my fucking keeper now?" I growled. Tig and I were stuck in the cell, so I didn't have much room to get out of the conversation.

"Nah, but you aren't as quiet as you think you are. She let you kiss her yet?" He said with a laugh. I could tell he was throwing darts in the dark.

"Leave it alone, Tig." I said, hoping he'd give up. I refuse to lie to a brother, so my only hope was throwing him off or shutting him up.

"You son of a bitch. I knew I should have called dibs." He said laughing and kicking my leg. "Don't give me that look, killer. I won't say shit. I'm just pissed you get ass and I don't."

"Shut up." I said with a smirk as I shook my head. I opened my plastic container and threw a new pair of socks to Tig.

"Thanks. Noticed I was getting a little bit of a breeze in your jailbreak sock." He said with a laugh as he put them in his own container. Suddenly, there was a loud bang on the door, causing me to jump up quickly.

"Shakedown! Trager, Lowman, get out on the wall." Wright barked as he stormed into the cell. I rolled my eyes and shoved past him with Tig on my heels. We got ready for pat downs as I muttered shit in Spanish that Ma would have beat me for.

"Nothing taped to my balls, Wright. You can quit tickling them." Tig said with a smirk. Wright shoved him against the wall hard enough to shut him up and piss him off. He looked over at me and I could instantly tell he was nervous about patting me down.

Wright thought that he was hard, but we knew he begged not to get posted in George. The inmates hated him and never tried to hide it. He would act tough and throw his weight around, but I could tell he was just a bitch.

"Lowman, you move and you'll be on lockdown for a week." Wright said as he kicked the inside of my ankle so I'd spread my feet further apart. I rolled my eyes and thought about commenting on how fucking short he was. Instead, I just stared up at the ceiling as he ran his hands all over me, looking for shit I didn't have.

After he got done feeling me up, he grabbed my wrist and pulled it behind my back. I heard the sound of cuffs before feeling the cold metal on my skin.

"The fuck are you cuffing me for, Wright?" I growled as he slapped the other one on. He shoved my back against the wall and narrowed his eyes at me.

"I don't trust you not to stab me in the back." He said before marching into our cell like he owned the place. I rolled my eyes and considered slipping out of the cuffs, but decided it'd just make shit worse. Tig crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head as he looked in on Wright, throwing shit everywhere.

"I don't get how Brown and Recker can get shit done without being an ass and then you've got this prick. He's got eighty pounds on Recker and she don't fucking cuff people when she does shakedowns." Tig was obviously pissed off and I couldn't blame him, considering I was the one in cuffs.

"Sweet letters from Mommy, Lowman." Wright said with a laugh before he slammed the door closed. I went from rubbing my now free wrists to kicking the fuck out of the door, managing to hurt my toe and make a lot of noise.

Tig was putting my mat back up on the bunk when I gave up fighting the door. He was silent, which was rare for Tig. He worked on separating our shit while I fixed both of our bunks. Neither of us spoke until the cell looked better than it had before the shakedown.

"Recker needs to get her ass back to work." I growled as I counted the letters from Ma to make sure that prick hadn't stolen any.

"Agreed. That fuck does this shit one more time, I'm kicking his ass. Fuck the hole. This shit is ridiculous." Tig grumbled as he tossed me a washrag. I raised my brow at him until I looked down and noticed my knuckles were broken open and bleeding.

"Thanks." I said, wrapping it around my hand and climbing up in my bunk. I was sick of being awake and stuck in the cell. I knew the sooner I went to sleep and woke up, the sooner I'd get out.

I woke up to Tig moving around and getting dressed. I rolled over and groaned as my foot hit the end of my bunk. I was still pissed, but I realized kicking a metal door hadn't been the best move. Tig smiled and tossed me a t-shirt as he brushed his teeth.

"Scratches are fading but you should probably still wear that." He said with a laugh as he wiped his mouth off on his towel. I twisted to try and look at my shoulder, but ended up having to take his word for it.

The door popped open, just enough to show it wasn't locked anymore a few minutes after I had gotten dressed. Normally, Recker would at least look in and check on everybody if not say good morning. I looked down the row of cell doors, watching her open them just like ours. She wasn't walking the way she normally did.

"Tig, go see what's wrong with her." I said as I rolled a toothpick between my teeth. He rolled his eyes and sighed like a kid given a chore, but headed downstairs all the same. A few minutes later, he came back up with a scowl.

"What?" I growled, wondering how he'd managed to piss her off in less than five minutes.

"I don't know, Hap. Told her good morning and she just nodded and kept watching everybody walking down the stairs and shit. Don't think your lady is in a good mood. Don't know why, but bitches don't make sense." He said flatly as he grabbed his deck of cards and headed downstairs.

I followed Tig out and scanned the unit as I made my way to the dayroom. Everyone seemed calm and normal, like any other day Recker worked. I glanced over and saw her watching me just before she looked away quickly. I narrowed my eyes and ignored her as I got in line for chow behind Jax.

"Heard you're so scary you get cuffed for shakedowns." Jax said with a laugh as I yawned. I shrugged silently, deciding I didn't want to get pissed off about it again. He passed a Styrofoam tray back to me before taking one for himself and heading over to our table.

About an hour after we finished eating, the unit door flung open without any type of warning. Recker was upstairs doing a walkthrough and ran down the stairs a few seconds after Wright walked in. I spotted a group of teenagers behind him and elbowed Tig.

"The fuck is this?" I growled as Recker was obviously asking Wright the same thing. It didn't take super hearing to hear their conversation.

"What is this, Wright? You come down here with a tour without calling ahead? I could have had an inmate in the sally port or some shit popping off in here." She spat as he started waving the kids inside.

"I've got this, Officer Recker. You need to put everybody up besides Lowman." He said, snapping his fingers and gesturing towards the cells. Recker slammed her hands on her hips and shook her head.

"This is my unit, Wright. It doesn't matter how many stripes you've got on your shoulder now. You don't barge in here and tell me whom to put up. What's Lowman staying out for?" She demanded as her accent started bleeding through. Had my name not been mentioned, I might have enjoyed her voice.

"Demonstration. I'll put them up. You stay here and protect the kids." He snapped as he whipped his keys out of his pocket. She narrowed her eyes as he stormed up the stairs.

"From what, the inmates you led them to? When he gets his ass kicked, I expect you all to laugh and talk about it to every other guard you meet." Recker said in full, Australian accent by that point. I tensed more and more as the dayroom emptied.

Jax was reluctant to lock up, being the ever loyal vice president I'd grown to respect. He mouthed off loudly as he finally stormed off and joined Clay in their cell. Recker had opened the window flaps that morning, so I could feel everyone's eyes on me as Wright headed back towards the group.

"So, everyone remembers what I said about self defense being a critical part of being an officer, right? Who would want to go up against Lowman?" Wright asked, gesturing towards me with his thumb. I was getting pissed. Regardless of my charges or what I'd done in the past, there was no point in making me look like the fucking enemy.

"Wright, what ever you're planning, stop. I've already called the captain down here. This is bullshit." Recker said as she positioned herself between he and I, with her back towards me.

"Captain approved a demonstration, Recker. See, kids, that is one thing you never want to do. Never turn your back on an inmate." Wright said, making an example out of Recker. She shook her head and threw her hands up.

"Let him make an ass out of himself." I said just loudly enough for her to hear me. She turned to face me as I took my shirt off. I was waiting on laundry to come back and didn't want blood on my last clean shirt. She sighed and I could see a weird glow in her eyes before she stepped a few feet away without a word.

Wright made his way over towards me with his hand resting on his baton. I shook my head but stood my ground.

"Lowman, I'm going to cuff you. You can try to resist. This is a demonstration. You won't get any discipline for fighting back." Wright said with a cocky grin. I started wondering about what shit he was on to bring on the change from yesterday to this morning.

I decided the best way to piss him off was to do exactly the opposite of what he said. So, instead of resisting, I stood completely still and let him cuff me without a fight.

I heard a few of the kids sigh with annoyance as Wright started taking the cuffs off Happy. I would have agreed, but I knew it wasn't over yet. I had a feeling he was toying with Wright.

"Scared, Lowman?" Wright said with a laugh as he moved on to the second cuff. A dark smile grew on Happy's face. He threw his free elbow back and connected with Wright's ribs, hard. Wright was caught off guard and Happy moved quickly, putting his hand through the free cuff to make something like a brass knuckle.

Wright pulled out his baton and swung at Happy, sending a wave of anger through me. Happy had proven his point, but of course Wright had to push it further. A couple of the girls started getting squirmy and I cussed under my breath about being left with babysitting.

"Wright, batons aren't self defense, they're a weapon. I don't have a baton. If you're showing what it's like to be a CO, then lose the baton. Unless you're scared." I said, hoping my teasing would push him in to ditching the baton. Unfortunately, he was more scared than I thought.

"Fine, Recker. You think you're so tough, you demonstrate. Top of your class, weren't you?" Wright asked as he turned towards me. Happy's face darkened as he shook his head.

"Fuck that. I'm not doing this shit. Just lock me up, Recker." Happy was obviously growing tired of being a show horse. I couldn't blame him and knew he would never comply in the first place. Wright shook his head, but I ignored him.

"Here," I said, reaching out and taking the cuff off of his wrist. I felt a familiar tingle as my fingers brushed his skin. I tossed the cuffs back on my desk and headed upstairs as Happy followed me, pulling his shirt back on.

As soon as the door closed, I felt a big hand on the back of my shoulder. I spun around and was face to face with Karakova, one of the few inmates in the unit that despised me. I ducked quickly as his fist flew forward and connected with the wall beside Happy and Tig's door.

"Son of a bitch." I heard Happy yelling as he slammed into the door with his fists. He had Karakova's attention just long enough for me to sweep his legs out from under him and bring him down to the ground. I slammed the heel of my boot into the fat of his calf and wrapped my arm around his neck.

He threw me back against Happy's cell door, but I managed to keep a hold around his neck. His face was turning red and I could tell he was getting weak, but my back was killing me. A couple agonizing seconds later, Karakova was knocked out.

"I need medical to George 3." I breathed heavily over the radio as I shoved him off of me. The kids downstairs were clapping, along with a smug looking Wright. I narrowed my eyes and made my way downstairs slowly, with each step shooting pain down my back.

"Get out. The warden is getting notification about this. I didn't agree to be a punching bag for your show and tell. Being a CO isn't a fucking game. Get out. Now." I yelled before leaning against the desk.

Soon, after Wright left, medical showed up and carted a drowsy Karakova down to the infirmary for evaluation. During that time, I had the chance to think about what had happened. Wright, now a sergeant, had put me in danger deliberately. My back being slammed against that wall also made me look at the rest of my life in a whole new way.

"Keep it down, my head is killing me." I said as I reopened the cell doors. I broke protocol and left all of the doors open so I wouldn't have to bother with rounds for shit like bathroom needs.

"You okay?" Happy asked as he walked up to the desk. I took a deep breath and winced a little as I nodded. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

"Just hurts a little. I've got a lot on my mind." I said honestly as I looked up into his dark eyes. His expression softened ever so slightly as he nodded.

"Rest. We'll talk later." He said with a brief grin before heading back to his table and joining in on a card game. I brought up my personal email and stared at a blank page, addressed to my lawyer. I looked out over the dayroom and took another deep breath before I started typing up my request.

The whole unit did me a solid and stayed under control the whole day. Obviously, they appreciated being out and having what freedom I could allow them. The captain and I had a long talk about the Wright situation, and I was promised that he wouldn't be coming back in the unit, whether I was there or not.

I had never looked forward to count and lockdown as much as I had that night. I counted quickly and waited impatiently for the utility officer to verify my count before I could shut the unit down. As usual, I closed all of the flaps and checked all the doors before heading back to my desk. When I saw Happy pop his door open, I realized checking the locks was pretty pointless.

"Hey." Happy said as he pulled me to him gently and kissed my lips softly. I smiled against his mouth and let myself relax a little in his arms. After what felt like an hour, he let go and headed back to his normal seat on the desk.

"Something was up this morning. What's going on?" Happy asked, getting right to it. I sighed and nodded.

"Declan and I had a fight this morning before I came in to work. I blacked out for a second when my back hit the door. I realized that I've been kidding myself over the past year. I don't want to marry Declan. I'm sick of doing shit that doesn't make me happy." I said, feeling a weight lift off my chest a little, just to say it out loud.

"Damn. When you telling him?" Happy asked, looking around the desk impatiently. I laughed and tossed my vegetable bowl on the table and grabbed a water out of the fridge as well. He handed me a piece of celery before taking several carrots in his hand.

"Well, I just emailed my lawyer about getting an eviction notice drawn up. She'll have that done in the morning, so probably tomorrow night or the following morning." I explained, planning as I spoke. I had to be ready for any fight he put up about moving out. Happy's brow raised as he took a bite of carrot with a crunch.

"So I'm you're rebound?" He asked with a smirk before offering me more celery. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I took a bite.

"No, but you helped me realize I wasn't happy with my life. It never should have taken me this long." I admitted with a sigh. Happy was scratching at the back of his head, right over the snake tattoo.

"Katerina, I like you. I feel like a bitch talking feelings and shit so don't get used to it. I want to see you when I get out." Happy said as he looked me in the eye. I nodded nervously. I knew he still had almost a year inside, so I had a while to see where this thing went, if anywhere.

"I'm staying here because of you. As soon as you are out, I'm done with this shit. That crap with Wright today was over the line." I growled as Happy nodded in agreement.

"So, were you sore?" Happy said with a smirk. I knew he was changing the subject on purpose. I laughed and nodded.

"Very. Trying on a wedding dress was absolute hell. It was so hard to move and I work out all the time." I said, boosting his ego further. He took a piece of celery for a change and chewed it thoughtfully.

"You gonna be able to get your money back for the dress?" He asked, obviously uncomfortable. I shook my head and pursed my lips.

"It was custom dipped in blue. I'll just put it in storage. My little sister might want it one day." I said with a shrug as I wondered if Kiara would want it.

"You have a sister?" Happy asked, cocking his head to the side a little. I nodded and explained that she was twenty three and still lived in Sydney. I learned he was an only child, and we ended up talking about family until he had to go back up.

"Goodnight Katerina." He said, giving me a hug and a lingering kiss. I pushed him away and laughed as he hurried upstairs.

I woke up to my back hurting and my alarm going off. I flipped over, careful not to fall off of the couch, and shut the alarm off. Declan could be heard getting out of bed. I sat up and checked my phone, relieved to see an email from my lawyer with an attached eviction notice, just in case.

"Sweetheart, you don't have to sleep on the couch when you come in late. I don't mind if you wake me up." Declan said with a frown as I stood up, massaging my lower back. I didn't respond as I started planning out the conversation I was about to start. To buy some time, I started folding up my blanket. Once it was folded and stacked on top of my pillow, I sent the captain a quick text, letting him know I'd be late for shift.

"Declan, you know I haven't been happy, right?" I asked, sitting down to rest my now throbbing back. His frown deepened as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Kat, I know you're frustrated. The wedding is just a few months away and then we can relax." He said, forcing a reassuring smile. I sighed and shook my head.

"No, after the wedding you and your mother will be on me about having kids. It will never be just you and me like it was before, Declan. You brought your family in on this and it's killed it. I'm sorry, but it's the truth." I said as I felt a tear roll down my cheeks. As right as I knew I was, it still hurt to cause Declan pain. He folded his arms across his chest and shook his head.

"Katerina, you're exhausted. Why don't you take a couple days off and relax. Go visit Lauren and we can talk about this once you've cooled off." He said with a sigh. I shook my head and looked him in the eyes. I wiggled the ring off of my finger and sat it down on the coffee table.

"I don't need time to relax or whatever. I need you to leave, Declan. I'm ending this. I'd like for you and your stuff to be gone by the time I get home." I said, standing up and heading into the bedroom to get ready for work. I grabbed a fresh uniform and headed into the bathroom with a mix of a heavy heart and a lighter chest.

I stepped into the shower and let the scorching water hit my back soothingly. The water was so loud, I didn't hear Declan walk in. I opened my eyes and found him standing right in front of me, completely naked. I scowled and him and shook my head.

"What? This is what you wanted, isn't it Katerina? You're so desperate for sex, you want to throw almost two years away instead of wait a couple more months?" He growled as he took a step towards me. I shook my head and pressed my back to the tile wall under the shower head.

"That's not what this is about, Declan. This is about your mother running our relationship and you welcoming it. I can't be what the two of you want. I won't be." I said sternly. He shook his head and reached out, running a finger between my legs and up towards my sex. I started getting nervous and shook my head, pushing him away.

"Stop, Declan. Just go away." I begged as he shoved a hand onto my shoulder and parted me with a finger. In that moment, I wished I could just run away from it all. I wanted to be anywhere but there with him.

"Fine, you stupid whore. I don't even want you after all the men I'm sure you've fucked this past year." He spat at me, withdrawing his hands quickly and storming out of the shower. I took several, short, shallow breaths and slid down onto the tile floor as tears mixed in with the cooling water.


	7. Day Drinking

"Where's Recker?" I asked the short, redheaded guard who was watching over the unit. He looked up at me nervously and I watched his Adam's Apple move as he swallowed hard.

"Inmate, that is none of your business." The officer stuttered. I scowled at him and clenched my fist, considering breaking his nose. He must have seen my fist, because his leg started bouncing and his voice got a little higher.

"Look, all I know is the captain said she was going to be late and then about an hour or so later, she called saying she couldn't come in. I didn't talk to her and that's all I know." He said as quietly as he could. I nodded and headed back to my brothers' table without a word.

"Clay, you mind if I borrow that burner?" I said, standing a couple feet away and looking him in the eye. He noticed the expression I wore, which must have looked worried and pissed. Clay didn't take his eyes off the guard as he slid the burner cell-phone over to me with a nod.

Without hesitation, I hurried up towards my cell, which the officer had left open after a little intimidation. Tig was right on my heels. Before he had a chance to interrogate me, I was saying hello to Chibs.

"Hey, brother. I need a favor." I said, getting right to the point of the call.

"Aye, what's up Happy?" Chibs asked. I ran my hand over my head and tried to think of how much he needed to know and exactly what I needed from him.

"I don't have time to explain why but I need you to find somebody and make sure they're alright. You got a pen?" I asked, knowing he would have to write her name down if he wanted to get it right.

"Aye, go for it." He said and I heard a faint click of a pen. I spelled out Katerina's name for him and had him read it back before moving on.

"I don't have a whole lot to go off. She has an apartment in Oakland. Sorry to throw this on you." I said, fully aware of how hard it was on our brothers to keep the club running smoothly with such low numbers.

"We'll take care of it, Hap. Just make sure tha lass is okay?" He asked to reconfirm. I nodded and spit out my now broken toothpick.

"Yeah, keep your distance and let me know as soon as you find her." I said as I finally looked over at Tig. Chibs assured me they could take care of it, and I ended the call. I gave Tig the phone back and looked at him curiously.

"What?" I snapped as I stared at him. He shook his head with a sigh.

"Hap, I don't even know what to tell you. Just try to get some rest to pass the time. I'll wake you if Chibs calls." Tig said as he sat down on the floor and grabbed a book from the desk. I couldn't think of anything but Recker.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"What on earth is this?" I asked as I sat my beer down and stood up from the booth Lauren and I were sharing in the back of her bar. A taller man with deep scars on his cheeks and a hint of gray in his black hair stared down at me.

"Are you Katerina Recker?" He asked in a heavy, Scottish accent. I folded my arms across my chest and remained silent. He was looking for me, but I had no idea who he was or why I was sought.

"I am." Lauren lied as she stood up next to me and placed her hands on her hips. The man cocked his head a little and narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think so. Look, I'm here as a favor to my brother." He said with an aggravated tone. I relaxed a little and sighed with relief.

"It would help if you were wearing your kutte." I said with a scowl as I sat back down next to Lauren. "You're welcome to sit. I know it must have been a long ride."

The scarred man raised his brow but sat down across from me and leaned back against the back rest. I took a drink of my beer and watched him as the waitress took his order.

"So, how do ya know Happy?" The man asked as he surveyed my face. I shrugged and motioned for another beer.

"It's a long story." I said, refusing to give any details that Happy obviously hadn't given to his brother.

"Oh! Wait, Happy is the guy that you fuc-. Uh, never mind." Lauren said quickly. I rolled my eyes and shook my head at her as she blushed apologetically.

"Aye, that would make sense. So, can I tell him you're okay?" He asked with a raised brow.

"I guess. I don't even want to know how he has a secure line to talk about this shit." I scoffed as I took a drink of my fresh beer.

"If you tell me your name and what's going on, the drinks are on the house. Otherwise, you're paying for whatever you drink." Lauren said, trying to bribe the man with alcohol. He laughed and shrugged.

"Name's Chibs. Happy sent me to check on this lass when she played hookey to get drunk in a bar." He said with a smirk before taking a swig of Jameson.

"What good is owning part of a bar if you can't come get drunk in the middle of the day?" I asked with a laugh as Chibs nodded and Lauren laughed.

"Move, I've gotta go pee." Lauren said, pushing me out of the booth. I sat back down and grabbed Chibs' hand to get a closer look at his rings. He was taken back at first, but laughed as I looked at each one. My level of intoxication was obvious as I slurred on about how cool they were.

"So, this is why you broke shit off? I knew you were a cheating whore." Declan's voice said from behind me. I swallowed hard and turned to look at him as I shook my head.

"It's not like that, Declan. He's just a friend. Don't make this worse than it already is." I said as I stood shakily on my feet. I heard Chibs get out of the booth as well. Declan grabbed my arm and pulled me over to him. His hand shot up and pulled my shirt collar over to expose my shoulder. I swallowed hard, knowing the bite marks were still faintly visible as a yellowing bruise.

"Stupid bitch. I knew you were hiding something." Declan said as he pushed me away. I stumbled back, but Chibs caught my shoulders and steadied me before stepping forward.

"I think ya should go." He growled as Declan continued to yell at me. I was happy the bar wasn't more crowded than it was. The scene he was making was bad enough without a big audience.

"My mother was right about you, Katerina. You're nothing more than a fucking gold digger. I hope you're miserable." Declan said with a loud laugh before spinning around and almost walking right into Lauren. She narrowed her eyes at him and pointed towards the door as he stomped away.

"Is there any way you won't be telling Happy about that?" I asked with a hopeful smile. Chibs ran his hand through his hair and took a breath.

"If he asks, I'll have to. I'm not looking to piss him off." He took his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number quickly. I groaned and sat back down, rubbing my back as it smarted through my alcohol induced numbness. Chibs spoke on the phone for a matter of seconds before passing it over to me.

"Hello?" I asked with a smile. Lauren rolled her eyes at me as she moved closer to my ear so she could listen in.

"You okay?" Happy's voice sounded tense under his normal rasp. I bit down on my bottom lip, realizing I wasn't nearly as fine as I told Chibs and Lauren.

"I'm not hurt. I'm safe." I said while I fought to hold tears back. Regardless of his concern, Happy didn't seem like one to deal well with crying women.

"Chibs is going to make sure you get home and it's safe. He's also changing your locks. Don't argue with me, Katerina." He didn't sound happy and I knew the call couldn't last much longer. I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Okay, Happy. I'll see you in the morning." I avoided saying anything more intimate with his brother standing over me. I passed the phone back to Chibs and waited for him to end the call. Lauren was looking between Chibs and I, obviously concerned for my well-being.

"Ya did something to get under that man's skin." Chibs said with a grin as he slipped the phone back in the pocket of his kutte. I blushed a little as I hitched my shoulder.

"I'm giving Declan until tonight to get his stuff out." I explained, knowing it didn't go along with Happy's plans. Lauren put a hand up to stop Chibs' protest.

"Chill, Scotty. She can stay with me. No lock changes required." She said with a satisfied smile. Chibs strummed his thumb on the table for a minute before finally nodding.

"Aye, alright. You're closing early." He stated as he rose to his feet and looked around the all but empty bar. Lauren sighed but took it as an excuse to lower labor costs for the day. An hour later, we were on our way to Lauren's apartment in a mini convoy with Chibs riding his motorcycle behind my car.


	8. The Package

"Morning!" Tig greeted Recker with a bright smile and a loud voice when she opened the cell door. She winced a little and smiled with a little wave. I laughed, realizing she was severely hung over.

During recreation, Jax was all but hunting for a fight. I watched him pacing and cracking his knuckles with acute awareness. Despite his beliefs, I knew he still wasn't in any shape to fight anyone. He eventually slammed his ass down on a bleacher bench.

"She's having my fucking kid but she won't even answer the damn phone." He spat as he looked across the yard without actually seeming to see it. I kept my face emotionless, despite the urge to roll my eyes. Nothing I had to say would comfort him or calm him down, so I just stood watch as he, Bobby and Clay hashed it out.

"Jax, she's dealing with one in the oven and one in pull-ups. You probably wouldn't want to talk to her if she did answer. Precious was a right bitch when she was pregnant." Bobby said with a chuckle as he thought about his ex-wife. I glanced over and noticed Jax's face relax slightly.

"Gemma said she's busy and dealing with shit the only way she knows how. Just focus on the club, son. She'll still be there when you get out." Clay said as if it were fact. I looked away just in case my eyes showed any reaction to that statement. My thoughts would do nothing to help my president's advice.

Once we finished dinner and got back in the unit, I finally got to stare at Recker in peace. The others were deep into a heated game of Rummy, so no one noticed me eye-fucking her. She would glance over at me and blush like a teenager every so often.

"Lowman, Mail. Teller, Mail." Recker announced as she approached our table and passed out letters. I had to resist the urge to reach out and touch her. Jax pulled me out of my concentration on her smooth skin by suddenly standing up and storming over to his cell door. Recker was finishing passing out mail as Jax grew impatient to go inside.

"Give me a minute, Teller. I'll be right there." Recker called out from a few tables away. Jax folded his arms across his chest and crumpled his mail in his hand.

"Let's go, Recker. I'm not standing here for my health." Jax's voice barely carried over to the table I sat at. I turned to watch her body language shift.

"No, but you can stand here for your fucking attitude." Recker snapped back. Jax rolled his eyes but refrained from smarting off again as she pulled the door open.

"I'll be glad when he gets to see his kid." Tig complained as Recker slammed the door to his cell and headed back to her desk. Juice and Bobby nodded before returning to their game. I spun around and rested my back on the table as I tore the letter open. It was from Ma, of course.

I read it twice before stuffing it back in the envelope and in the back pocket of my jeans. She was getting low on medicine and had lost the damn key to my house. I bounced my leg up and down in frustration as I tried to come up with a plan. It'd taken two days for the letter to get to me, so I knew she was running even lower now. It irritated me that I hadn't delivered the case in my closet to her before I went in.

After count and lock down, I popped the door to the cell and headed downstairs to see Recker. Tig was wide awake and waved to me sarcastically as I slipped out of the door. Seeing Recker took my mind off of Ma a little. Her eyes were brighter than they were this morning and she looked happy to see me.

"What's wrong?" Recker asked before I even sat down on the desk. I narrowed my eyes at her and shook my head.

"Stuff with my ma. I gotta figure out a way to get her meds to her. You doing okay?" I looked into her eyes and watched them darken a little.

"I'll be fine. Declan's being an ass, but that doesn't surprise me. I stayed at my best friend's house last night. Here." She reached down into her backpack and I heard the noise of Velcro peeling back. I raised my brow as she slid a black flip phone over to me.

"Katerina, you could have caught a felony bringing this in." I growled at her as I opened the phone and checked it out before sliding it into my pocket. She shrugged and leaned back.

"I figured the one you use is probably a club phone. You're welcome." She said with a scowl. I could tell my comment irritated her. I got up and moved to her side of the desk. I leaned back against the desk, right in front of her chair.

"You wanting me to say thank you, girl?" I grabbed her wrists and pulled her up. She was standing between my legs with her chest pressed up against me. I stopped her from responding by kissing her roughly. She ran her hands over my scalp as I gripped her ass. I probably couldn't even estimate how many women I've fucked, but Recker was different. I wanted to be able to stick around after getting my dick wet. That was the first thing to have ever scared me since I was a kid.

"Happy, we don't have time. I'm not staying as long tonight. Oh, god." Her protests turned into moans as I slid my hand down the back of her pants and rubbed a finger over her opening. There wasn't any space between us as she grinded her hips on my crotch. I knew we didn't have time to fuck, but I'd be damned if I wasn't going to get her off before I locked back up.

She moved a hand down from the back of my neck to undo my pants. I grunted and shook my head; I was probably as surprised as she was. I felt her getting wetter and wetter as I slammed three of my fingers into her and massaged her backdoor with my thumb. A couple minutes later, she tightened around me and panted as she sank her teeth into my collarbone. I almost came just feeling her tighten around my fingers.

"God, Happy." Was all she could manage to say as I pulled my hand out of her pants and licked her wetness off of my fingers. Her eyes were wide and I could tell she wanted to jump me by the blush in her cheeks. She kissed me deeply and swirled her tongue around mine.

"Give me your ma's number." She whispered into my ear as she rubbed my shoulders. I leaned back and narrowed my eyes in question. She smiled and moved her hands up to my neck.

"Don't give me that look. I'm getting that medicine to her. I'm guessing your brothers are kind of swamped outside, so let me do this." She kissed me between sentences, hoping to convince me with her mouth. I sighed and nodded.

"Fine, I'll text it to you." I had more to say, but I heard the sound of the outer sallyport door opening. Her eyes flew open as she jumped back. I knew I had hardly any time to get my ass back upstairs. I moved quickly and stuck to the walls, just in case her relief looked through the small window in the door before coming in. She moved to stand in front of the window to help block the view.

My door clicked shut just as the unit door opened. I leaned my back against the cold metal door and let out a sigh of relief. Tig sat up and raised his brow at me.

"You smell like pussy." He commented before rolling over and going back to sleep. I thought about punching him. Instead, I climbed up in my bunk and pulled out the phone, sending my ma's info to the only number saved in the phone. It was saved under the name private. I laughed and shook my head before sliding it back in my pocket and going to sleep.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Lauren, you feel like going on a road trip?" I asked as I leaned on the countertop. She was already dressed in her long sleep shirt by the time I came walking through the door from work. She looked up at me with a yawn and shrugged.

"Depends on where we're going and if we're going to the gym first." She said with a judgmental look. I laughed and nodded as I grabbed a water out of the fridge.

"Yeah, gym first, then road trip. I've gotta go up to Charming and then down to Bakersfield." I said before taking a long drink of water. Lauren raised her brow and bit into a strawberry.

"Good, tomorrow's leg day. Why are we going all over California exactly?" I laughed and hopped up to sit on the counter before stealing a strawberry. I filled her in on the plan to pick up the meds and then deliver them down to Happy's mom in Bakersfield. Her eyes lit up when I mentioned going to Charming again.

"Think we'll see that Scottish guy again?" She asked, ignoring the main mission of the road trip. I almost choked on my water.

"I knew I saw you eyeing him, even if I was drunk. We'll see him for sure. I've got to get him to open Happy's door. Apparently he has a spare key." I said with a shrug as Lauren started nodding excitedly.

"Yes, road trip it is! Get to bed, woman. We're getting in the gym at seven." She ordered before heading off to her room. I glanced down at my watch and groaned, noticing it was already after one in the morning. I hurried into the guest room and took a speedy shower before hopping into bed.

"How is your max still higher than mine when you've cut back on training?" Lauren griped as she spotted for me during my squats. I smirked but didn't use my breath to answer. I was just finishing my last set of reps, and I was determined to finish strong.

My glutes burned as I straightened up and finished off my set. I set the barbell back up on the hanger before sliding off the weights and stacking them up in their shelves. Lauren and I were covered in sweat as we headed into the showers. I glanced over and noticed a new tattoo on her upper thigh.

"What's the hummingbird for?" I asked as I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair. She looked down at her leg and smiled.

"Being resilient. You checking me out, K?" She winked over at me and flicked her wet hair. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"Maybe. It seems I have a thing for people with ink." I joked. She smirked as I turned off the water and grabbed my towel before heading back into the locker room. I dried off and wrapped the towel around my head in a turban as I pulled on my thong and bra. I started on some mascara and eyeliner before getting dressed.

"So, is it weird that you're meeting his mom without him?" Lauren asked as she pulled her jeans on. I paused and looked in the mirror of my locker.

"I didn't think about it like that. Thanks a lot." I said with a nervous laugh. Lauren hugged me and kissed my cheek.

"I'll be there, chica. No worries." I smiled and nodded before going back to drawing on eyeliner.

"If I hadn't known you for years, it may be weird that you just hugged me half-naked." Lauren waved my comment off and pulled her bra on before slipping a lace, sheer tank over her head. I didn't mention it, but I was pretty sure she was wearing that for the Scott.

We tossed our duffels into the back of my car and set out on the road towards Charming. I tried to remember if I've ever even driven through the town before. My phone vibrated and I tossed it over to Lauren. I refused to text and drive, especially in my own car, so Lauren was always my secretary when I drove.

"From Happy: Morning. Miss your sexy ass." Lauren read aloud with a snicker. I cut my eyes over at her before giggling.

"Tell him we're headed to Charming now." I said as I turned onto the interstate. Lauren typed out the message quickly before turning the radio up. We were almost into town when my phone buzzed again.

"Happy, again. Wish I was." She read and stuck her bottom lip out in a sad frown. I sighed and nodded. It was times like these that it really hit me I was involved with an inmate. Lauren put the phone back in the cup holder without responding. Neither one of us had a good response for that.

I pulled into the lot of Teller-Morrow Automotive and cut the engine. The reaper on the wall and on the building across from the garage made it obvious I was in the right place. I took a deep breath with Lauren before we got out of the car. A very tall, bearded man walked out of the garage and towards Lauren and I.

"Can I help you?" His voice was deep but seemed kind. He looked about our age, maybe a couple years older. I was about to answer when Chibs came walking out of the little office connected to the garage.

"Katerina! Ya find us okay?" His smile grew as he looked from me to Lauren. Obviously, the attraction went both ways. The tall guy raised his brow and looked over at Chibs.

"Yeah, it's not like there's a lot of shops up here. You remember Lauren, right?" My question was completely rhetorical and I knew she was mentally kicking me at the moment. He nodded and looked her up and down.

"Friend of yours, brother?" The taller man asked as he lit a cigarette and offered Lauren and I each one. We declined with matching smiles.

"Aye, well, Katerina is a friend of Hap's. Katerina, Lauren, this is Opie." Chibs introduced his brother as he smacked a hand on his broad back. I couldn't help think about the little Opie on that show about a little country town, something about Mayberry, it wasn't too popular in Australia but I'd caught black and white reruns late at night when I moved here.

"Nice to meet you." I said with a smile as Opie nodded. His curiosity was written all over his face. Apparently, it was a little strange for a friend of Happy's to show up like this.

"I'll be right back. Gotta get tha key from inside." Chibs said as he motioned for Opie to follow him into what I assumed was their clubhouse. Lauren elbowed me in the ribs as soon as they were inside.

"Bitch." She said with a laugh. I winked at her and leaned on the back of my car. A tall, dark-haired woman with highlights was heading towards us with a shorter, pregnant brunette by her side. Both of them gave us looks of heavy suspicion.

"Everything okay?" The older woman asked as she stopped and crossed her arms over her chest. I nodded and smiled, hoping to ease the tension.

"Yeah, just waiting on Chibs. I'm Katerina Recker and this is Lauren Buckley." I said, nodding towards Lauren and reaching my hand out to shake the woman's. She didn't unfold her arms and her expression didn't soften. The younger woman raised her brow and looked between Lauren and I.

"How do you know Chibs?" She asked with a softer voice. She was obviously suspicious, but seemed less hostile than her companion. I decided to use Chibs' explanation.

"Friend of Happy's." I said, almost asking her if she was Tara. I knew Jax's old lady was pregnant, and she looked about the right age. The older woman and who I assumed was Tara grew more suspicious. Thankfully, Chibs and Opie emerged from the clubhouse wearing their kuttes seconds later.

"Follow me, lass." Chibs called over to me. He nodded at the two women we had been speaking with before getting on his bike. Opie did the same as Lauren and I got in my car.

"Apparently, your man doesn't have many friends." Lauren said with a laugh as we pulled out of the lot. I shrugged and concentrated on following Chibs and Opie. We stopped in front of a well-kept grey house with white trim. For some reason, I was surprised to see Happy's house look so normal.

Lauren and I got out of the car as Chibs and Opie turned their bikes off. I turned back and grabbed my cell before catching up to Lauren. She and Chibs were swapping numbers when I walked up.

"Here ya go. If ya don't mind I'm gonna stay out here. Opie can go in with ya." Chibs barely looked away from Lauren as he handed me a silver key. Opie rolled his eyes at his brother but gave me a closed lipped smile as we headed up the driveway.

I turned the knob and opened the door to a very clean house. It was nice and open with flowing, light hardwood floors and off white walls. The kitchen was updated and the living room looked comfortable with a huge, black leather couch. I noticed there wasn't a television as I walked down a hall towards his room. Opie stayed in the living room, explaining he'd never been in Happy's room before. I laughed and continued on down the hall.

His bedroom was flooded with natural light from huge bay windows and a sliding glass door that went out to a big, red stained deck and hot tub. I blushed as I thought about being in a hot tub with him. That blush only deepened when I looked over at the king sized bed adorned with black sheets and a silver quilt. I ran my hand over the quilt, wondering if we'd ever get between those sheets together.

I shook the thoughts from my mind and refocused on the task at hand. I opened the door to his closet, that was well organized, and grabbed the box labeled 'MA' sitting in the floor to the right. I closed the closet back and headed back to the living room. Opie nodded at me and opened the door like a gentleman. I locked the door back and followed Opie back towards the street.

I blushed a little at the sight of Laruen leaned up against the back of my car, wrapped up in Chibs' arms and mouth. I smirked as Opie coughed a little to get their attention. Lauren's face reddened as Chibs moved back and smiled at her before getting back on his bike.

"Don't be strangers, you two. Just cause your man is inside don't mean ya can't come to parties." Chibs said with a smile. I almost corrected him about Happy being "my man," until I decided I liked the sound of it. I nodded with a grin before putting the box in the back of my car and getting in the driver's seat. Lauren followed a couple seconds later with a goofy grin.

"I'm not the only one with a thing for bad boys." I said with a wink. Lauren cracked up laughing as I started the car. I handed my phone over to Lauren, who was still smiling like a school girl.

"Text him and let him know we got the package and I want to get him in the hot tub." I said with a smile plastered on my face. Lauren raised her brow at me but nodded and typed away as she danced to the music pumping through my speakers.


	9. Mine

I smirked at Recker's text message as I read it and responded, never stopping my sit-ups. I wished I could see her face as she read my message. "I'd fuck you in the driveway if that's what you wanted."

It was obvious that if things kept on with Recker, I'd end up breaking my rule about not having an old lady. There was something about the way Recker relaxed me and made me happy that would be worth it. I looked over at the clock and realized it was getting close to rec and chow. I couldn't risk taking the phone with me, so I went ahead and dialed Recker's number, nodding for Tig to watch the door.

"Hey, Hap!" Her voice was light and happy as the music lowered in the background. I smirked and sat down on my bunk, holding the phone on the right side so it wasn't facing the door.

"Katerina. I'm not taking this out to chow or rec." I said as I leaned my head against the concrete wall.

"Probably a good idea. I'm a couple hours outside of Bakersfield. I already talked to your Ma, so she's expecting me." I could hear a hint of fear in her voice. I smirked, knowing she was worrying for no reason.

"Good. So you like the hot tub?" I growled, trying to ignore the fact that Tig was wearing a shit eating grin. I heard an unfamiliar giggle on the phone.

"Happy, you're on speaker." Recker said with a laugh. I nodded and smiled openly.

"Yeah, well Tig can hear me too. So I shouldn't say how good you taste or how I want to bend you over my bike?" Tig laughed as I tried to hold back my own laughter. I was serious about what I said, but knowing I was embarrassing her was fun. I heard a gasp and laughter.

"Yeah, you probably shouldn't have. I'm hanging up before you make Lauren's eyes pop out of her head." She said with a smile to her voice. I nodded and sighed involuntarily.

"Bye, Katerina." I closed the phone and tucked it inside my pillow. Tig shook his head and laughed again as I jumped down from my bunk.

"You're a real romantic, killer. You think she'll come around when we get out?" Tig asked as we headed out towards the rec yard. Our brothers were a few yards ahead of us, so he kept his voice low. I shrugged, trying to play off my interest in her.

"Maybe." I growled before catching a basketball Juice had thrown at me. Tig and I quit talking about Recker and headed out to the basketball court where several Mayans were waiting for us.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

I pulled my car into the driveway I'd been looking for and grimaced at the sound of my bumper scraping on the concrete. Lauren twisted her mouth and looked at me with a pained expression. The sound was the worst part of it. I was used to scraping after lowering the suspension a year ago, but it still killed me to hear my car going through torture.

"Are you planning on going up to the door or just chilling in the car?" Lauren asked as she checked her hair in the visor mirror. I looked at the white door that stood out from the green clapboard siding and gnawed on the inside of my cheek.

"Do you think I should have dressed up a little?" I looked down at my black t-shirt and jeans. The only part of my outfit that was slightly dressy was my black leather boots. Lauren rolled her eyes and shoved my shoulder towards my door.

"Let's go, K. She'll think you're weird if you sit here any longer." Lauren smiled and unbuckled as I opened my door. The light by the front door turned on and I felt my chest tighten. I hid behind my open hatch as I reached in for the box of medicine. After taking a couple of deep breaths, I stood up and closed the hatch.

Lauren and I didn't make it to the front step before the door opened to reveal a short, aging Hispanic woman. She smiled brightly and opened her arms for a hug. Despite her wrinkling and lightening hair, I could tell she had been a beautiful woman.

"Katerina?" She rolled the 'r' in my name more than Happy did, but I liked the sound all the same. I nodded and leaned into her arms for a hug. She squeezed me tightly before holding my shoulders and pushing me back a little. Her eyes lingered on my face for a moment before looking me up and down. I failed to refrain from blushing.

"Goodness, please come in! You've come such a long way!" She said sweetly before stepping aside and ushering Lauren and I in. I relaxed as I stepped inside and took in the warmth and charm of her modest home. The furniture was obviously antique, but it was well taken care of and squeaky clean.

"Ms. Lowman, this is my friend Lauren. I'm sorry we're a little later than I planned. I'm not the best with directions." I said with a sheepish smile. Lauren snorted and shook her head.

"Understatement of the year. Nice to meet you, Ms. Lowman." She reached her hand out but was pulled in for a hug.

"Girls, please call me Maria. I'll get you all some tea. Take a seat." She said, with a wave to the seating in the living room. I hesitated, but figured it would be rude to refuse. If she was anything like Happy, I wasn't about to argue with her.

"I really appreciate you bringing that medicine, Katerina. I definitely needed it and it takes so much stress off my son's mind." She said with a hint of tears forming in her eyes. I swallowed down the tea and smiled behind the little cup.

"It's my pleasure, Maria. I'd like to think he'd do the same for me if he had the chance." Happy's Ma nodded and smiled as she reached across the table and patted my knee.

"For you, niña, I think he would do anything." My eyes widened and I shook my head with flushed cheeks. Lauren looked between us and smiled.

The three of us spoke about life and Happy well into the night. Laruen and I had to promise we would let her know that we made it home safely before she let us leave. She gave us both hugs and pecks on the cheek before we headed out to my car.

"Now, that is a mother-in-law. I approve." Lauren said with a smile as she leaned back in the passenger seat. I laughed and nodded as I backed the car out of the driveway carefully. We didn't even make it to the interstate before Lauren was curled up and sleeping by my side.

During the long drive back to Oakland, I thought about Happy. He was sexy, that I had no question about. After today, I also realized that he'd do anything for his family. The way Maria said his name spoke volumes about how proud she was of the man he'd become. I wasn't blind to the fact that he was a criminal. With all things considered though, I knew he was a good man.

I just hoped that when he got out, he was the same person towards me. Watching Declan change over time made me worry about how Happy might change and how I may be in too deep already.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

**THREE MONTHS LATER (MONTH 7 OF 14)**

I was sitting on the rec yard thinking about the letter I'd gotten from Ma. She told me about how she and "my friend" talked on the phone every Sunday and how I needed to bring her around when I got out. Recker hadn't told me anything about keeping in touch with her. I couldn't help but smile as I reread the letter.

It was almost Christmas and I knew the holidays were hard for her when I was inside. The fact that she'd invited Katerina down for Christmas made me feel a little less guilty about being locked up. Ma even seemed to be feeling better since she insisted on helping me set up getting Recker's present to her.

"How's the second son?" I asked as Jax walked up to our group sitting at a picnic table. He smiled brightly and nodded.

"He's perfect, brother. I'm so ready to be home with them." He said wishfully. I nodded and silently agreed with his wish to be home. He and Tara had finally started communicating again and he'd met his new baby for the first time today. It was a relief to have him closer to normal.

"Hap, you mind if I ask you something?" He nodded over towards the empty weight bench. I looked at him curiously but got up and followed him over there, out of earshot from everyone else.

"What's up, brother?" I studied his face as he looked at me cautiously.

"You and Recker. There anything between y'all?" He asked quietly. I ran my hand over the short hair growing on my scalp and rolled my toothpick between my teeth.

"Why are you asking?" I spoke carefully to avoid disrespecting him or lying. He pulled on the edges of his black beanie and shrugged.

"Recker escorted me down to visitation today and Tara recognized her from showing up at the garage. She said she left with Chibs. You're the only one that's talked to Chibs besides Clay." He filled me in on the information he had. I took in what he said and nodded slowly with a glance over at our other brothers.

"She ain't an asset, Jax. She's mine." I said protectively. I had a bad feeling of what Clay would request if he knew I had an in with a guard. Jax nodded with a smile and clapped my shoulder.

"I told Tara not to mention seeing Recker to anybody. I got you, brother." I nodded a silent thank you to Jax. In that moment, my respect for Jax doubled. I respected Clay as our president, but I looked forward to the time when Jax would sit at the head of the table.

When we returned to the unit after rec and chow, I noticed a new guard sitting in Recker's chair. Recker was standing behind him, pointing at something on the computer and talking quietly. She glanced up and met my eyes for a second as we headed over towards our table.

"Blondie getting replaced already?" Bobby pondered as he looked at the new guy next to her. Juice turned to look at them and laughed a little.

"He probably can't hear a word through staring at her ass." Juice said with a laugh. I looked past Bobby and realized the new guard was in fact staring at my girl's ass as she was bent forward pointing stuff out on the computer. Jax tensed a little next to me as Tig tapped his thumb nervously on the table.

"I'm going to bed." I said as I stood up. Tig looked up at me and stood as well.

"I gotta write Fawn back." He said awkwardly. I knew he hadn't gotten any letters from either of his daughters. We headed up the stairs and waited for Recker to come open the cell door. I started growing impatient and pissed off as the new guard kept looking Katerina over and flirting with her.

I could have gotten her attention but I was too focused on wanting to bash the rookie's head in. I leaned up against the door and folded my arms across my chest as I stared down at her. A few minutes into the development of my plan to murder the prick, he looked up and met my eyes.

"Inmates! You can't hang out up there!" He yelled across the unit. I smirked a little and took a step towards the stairs to head down and kick his ass. Recker's head shot up and looked at me. She put a hand up towards the guy and shook her head before hurrying up the stairs.

"Damnit, Happy. You could have told me you wanted inside." She narrowed her eyes at me slightly as she turned the key in the door and pulled it open. I nodded in towards the cell. Her eyes widened, but she stepped inside. Tig stood in the doorway to block the cameras and the other guard's vision.

"What's he doing in here?" I asked, lowering my mouth to her neck. She moved her head to the side reflexively before trying to push me off.

"I'm training him. He's going to be running George 2 and their guard doesn't have enough hours to train. Babe, we can't do this right now." She moaned as I grabbed her by the front of her belt and pulled her to me.

"I know." I kissed her possessively and held her to me by pressing my hands onto her ass. She returned my kiss for a couple seconds before turning her head and cutting her eyes over at me.

"Babe, not now." She said with a sigh. I nodded and let her go. She hesitated a minute before turning to leave.

"Kat, he stares at you again or thinks about touching you and I'll kill him." I growled as she reached the door. She paused and turned back to look at me. She smirked a little and nodded before slipping by Tig.

"She think you're kidding?" Tig questioned as he sat down on his bunk. I shook my head and laughed.

"Nah, she knows I'm not. She just gets turned on when I'm pissed off." I told him with a proud smile. Tig shook his head with a smile.

"Girl must be wet all the time then." He covered his face with his arms as I hurled a book at him. I had to admit, it was pretty funny and he had a point.

I pulled off my shirt and started doing pushups to work out my anger. I had a feeling I wouldn't get to be with her tonight, thanks to the asshole downstairs. The more I thought about it, the more pissed I got. Tig looked over his book at me and shook his head.

"Killer, if you wanna fuck your girl outside of this damn unit, you'll calm down. Killing that kid in here will just catch you more charges." He said, having a voice of reason I wasn't accustomed to hearing from him.

"I know that." I said with a frustrated sigh. I'd just have to trust Recker and try to ignore the rookie.


	10. Frozen Vegetables

"They seem to like you." O'neal said as I walked back up to my desk. He was sitting where Happy normally did and it made me irrationally irritated. I nodded and sat back down in my chair. Since Happy had pointed it out, it was obvious that O'neal's eyes lingered on me too long.

"It's all about mutual respect. I respect them and they respect me. If you go into a unit like Robo-CO, shit is going to be hard. You give them the respect they give you, things will normally go smoothly." I told him, hoping to pass on my way of running a unit to him. He laughed and shook his head.

"I think it may have to do more with you being beautiful. You got a date for the Christmas party?" O'neal asked with a smile. I narrowed my eyes at his forwardness and suddenly realized Teller was standing right behind O'neal.

"It's because she's not a bitch." Teller growled, startling O'neal into standing up. I gave Teller a half smile before O'neal could notice.

"What's up, Teller?" He shrugged and turned his eyes to me. The look in his eyes told me he knew about Happy and I.

"Just wanted to thank you for giving me some extra time at visitation. I appreciate it." He said with a smile and a nod. I relaxed a little, hoping I was right to think he'd keep his knowledge to himself.

"No problem. I know any time I spend with my man is important. Figured you'd want a little more with your family." I said with a smile. Jax smirked and nodded before narrowing his eyes at O'neal.

"May want to watch the sexual harassment, asshole." He warned O'neal with a scowl before heading back to his table. I would have to remember to tell Happy about what just went down. Teller needed to know I appreciated it.

I only got to see Happy for a few seconds during count before I got off work. The captain had decided to reward me with getting off on time and leaving the rookie on post. It was a nice gesture since my Christmas vacation started a few hours early, but I was upset I didn't get to tell him bye.

As soon as I got outside and into my car, I heard my phone ringing. I smiled as I answered it without even starting my car.

"Hey babe." I said softly into the phone. I wished I could see him and hated that it would be a week before I'd be back at work. He'd insisted I take some time off, but I noticed him growing agitated as my vacation had grown closer.

"Hey Kat. Think I should pop out on the rookie?" He joked with a low rasp. I could tell he was trying to avoid waking Tig up. I shook my head, even though he couldn't see me.

"Probably not. Your girl might get jealous." I said with a smile. Happy hmm'd. I filled him in on what Jax had done after I'd gotten back to my desk.

"He's a good brother. You going to that work party?" He asked with an annoyed tone. I rolled my eyes.

"No, babe. It's the same night as Lauren's party. Chibs is going to be there. Opie to I think." I leaned back in my seat as tried to hide my disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Kat. I would be there if I could." His voice was gravelly and it made my throat tighten with tears forming in my eyes. I always loved the holidays and I just wanted to be with him, even if it meant working.

"I know, Hap. At least I'll be with your Mom on Christmas. It's the next best thing. You think she'll like the quilt I got her?" I asked, hoping the tears rolling down my cheeks weren't audible.

"She'll love it, Kat. Stop crying." He growled. I sighed and took a deep breath. "As soon as I get out, we'll have Christmas again if you want."

His offer made me cry harder. I was a mess of happiness and sadness. On one hand, I'd found someone I truly cared about that seemed to want to give me the world. On the other hand, he was locked up and I wouldn't get to really be with him for another seven months. I sobbed and held the phone to my chest, hoping pointlessly to hide the sound.

"Katerina, just breathe. I'll talk to you as much as I can while you're off. You aren't driving are you?" He asked quickly.

"No, I'm sitting in the parking lot. I'll text you when I get home babe." I was growing tired and knew if I didn't get on the road, I'd be too tired to drive home.

"Okay, Kat. Be careful. Goodnight." I could hear the smile in his voice and it calmed me down as I started the car.

"Goodnight, Happy." I ended the call and rubbed my face dry before throwing the car in first and heading home. I sped home in hopes of getting to sleep quickly and starting tomorrow off on a fresh foot.

I turned my key in the door and pushed it open with a yawn. I furrowed my brow at the light on in the kitchen as I tossed my bag on the table under the coat hanger. I normally turned all my lights off, but I had been in a hurry that morning. I flipped it off and headed into my bedroom.

"Kat?" A voice came from behind me. I screamed and spun around, backing away from the voice quickly. Declan was sitting on a barstool with a beer in his hand. I took a deep breath and ran my hands through my hair in frustration.

"Declan, what are you doing here? It's late and I'm tired." I said, cursing myself for not changing the locks like Happy and Chibs had insisted months ago. Declan frowned and stood up slowly. I took my phone out of my back pocket and texted Lauren quickly.

"Baby, I know you're not seeing anybody. You just work and come home unless you're hanging out with Lauren and her boyfriend. You should have told me that guy was with Lauren. I'm so sorry I yelled at you." He reached out to touch my face. I took a step back and shook my hand.

"Declan, you're drunk. Have you been following me?" I asked as his words registered with me. He shook his head with a smile.

"No, no, not like that. Well, maybe just a few days a week. Kat, we can elope okay? Screw my mom. I miss you." He slurred as he tried to reach for me again. I backed up again and my back met the wall. I hoped Lauren was still awake and had gotten my message.

"Don't touch me, Declan. We're done, remember? I'm happier now. You must have seen that if you've been following me. I wasn't happy with you in the end." I said, hoping to reach his rational side through the alcohol. Declan nodded his head sadly.

"I'll make it up to you, Kat. I'll let you scratch me if you want. I know you like that, baby." He moved quickly and caught me by my collarbone. I moved to push him off and he laid his weight on me, pinning me to the wall.

I brought my knee up sharply, but he turned just in time to block his goods. Despite my efforts, he had me in a bad spot and outweighed me. His free hand tore at my shirt and the buttons popped off. I felt myself trying to whimper, but I refused to feed into his fantasy. I heard a hard knock on my door.

"Lauren!" I yelled loudly. Declan punched me hard in the face and covered my mouth. I winced as the pain coursed through me. My front door flew open and Chibs ran inside with Lauren on his heels. Declan let me go as Chibs slammed the barrel of his gun into his temple.

I pushed away from the wall and ran over to Lauren. Chibs stepped to the right so he was blocking Lauren and I from Declan.

"Ya think it's okay ta beat on a woman?" Chibs growled as he walked closer to Declan. He kept his gun pointed at him, but brought it down from his temple.

"I didn't mean to. She's my soulmate." Declan whimpered. I winced at how pathetic he sounded along with the swelling on my cheek. Chibs laughed darkly and shook his head.

"Wrong. Ya show up again, I'll kill you if her old man doesn't." Chibs promised Declan with a clip to his words. Declan looked like he was going to be sick. He rushed out of my apartment quickly. Chibs walked down the hall quickly before closing and locking the door.

"Thank you." I said weakly as he walked back over to Lauren and I. He holstered his weapon and shook his head.

"He's dead within a year. Tha' jackass just doesn't know it yet." He growled as he tilted my chin up and looked at my cheekbone. I could tell it was already swelling.

"Hopefully I can talk Happy out of killing him over the next seven months. That'll be him now." I said with a frown as my phone vibrated in my hand. Chibs nodded as Lauren rubbed my back soothingly.

"Hey babe." I said, trying to sound as normal as possible. Happy didn't buy it for a second.

"Kat, what's wrong? Are you hurt? Where are you?" Happy shot questions at me rapidly. I closed my eyes and waited for a chance to cut in.

"Happy, babe. It's okay. I'm home. Chibs and Lauren are here. I got home and Declan was here. He was drunk and tried to… I fought back. Luckily your brother got here before he got anywhere." I spoke quickly and skirted around verbalizing Declan's intentions. It did nothing to calm him.

"The fuck, Katerina? I thought you changed the fucking locks. Are you hurt?" He repeated the question as I heard Tig stirring in the background. I glanced up at Chibs who gave me his best attempt at a sympathetic smile.

"He caught me on the cheek, but it'll be okay." I said, hoping it was true since it currently hurt like hell. Happy threw some cuss words together that made no real sense, but portrayed his feelings. There was even some Spanish mixed in there.

"He's dead, Kat. I'll fucking kill him for touching you. Let me talk to Chibs." He growled. I wasn't about to argue with him in this mood. I passed the phone to Chibs and mouthed a silent sorry.

He held the phone out from his ear a little as he nodded and "yeah'd" and "aye'd." Lauren grabbed me a bag of frozen carrots from the freezer.

"You're out of peas, girly." She smiled weakly as I laughed and nodded.

"Vegetables are so useful." I said with a grin. Chibs looked down at us and rolled his eyes.

"No, they're laughin' about some frozen carrots. I don't know, they're women. Here." Chibs said, passing me the phone and pulling Lauren into his arms and kissing her hair.

"I'm sorry, Happy. I forgot to change the locks." I said, blaming myself for not trusting his intuition.

"No use being sorry, Kat. Chibs is changing the locks tonight. You need to get some sleep babe." His voice softened by the end and I relaxed a little.

"So do you. Goodnight, Happy." I said with a weak smile. I heard him sigh a little.

"Goodnight, Katerina. I'll call you tomorrow." The line went dead. I looked over at Lauren and felt tears welling up in my eyes. She hugged me tightly and stroked my hair.

"You two go ta bed. I'm gonna get those locks from Walmart and I'll be back. We'll stay here tonight." He kissed Lauren quickly before passing his back up gun to her and heading out of the apartment.


	11. Harley

I lit up a cigarette that Alvarez's cousin had smuggled in and leaned up against the bleachers. I'd talked to Katerina this morning as she headed down to Bakersfield, but it didn't help my nerves. I kept the conversation short to keep from hurting her feelings. I was pissed that she hadn't changed the locks, but not as pissed as I was that I wasn't there for her. The walls around me felt like they were closing in further and further.

Jax had come up to me after breakfast and put me further on edge. He pointed out that if I wanted to bring Recker around after I got out, I should probably let Clay know before we get released. I hated the idea. I was certain she'd be around when I got out, but I still wanted to protect her from being used as an asset. As beneficial as it may be to the club, I didn't want my woman used like a fucking prospect.

I hadn't said anything during lunch or while we were out in the dayroom before rec. Luckily, my silence wasn't anything new to the club, so no one really questioned it. Tig and Jax looked over at me every so often. Tig was worried I was going to lash out because of Kat's ex and Jax worried about how I was going to handle talking to Clay. They're concern annoyed me and wound me up tighter.

As happy as I would be to beat someone's face in to release my anger, I couldn't. I couldn't get thrown in the hole when I had a direct line to my girl and had only five more days before I saw her again. I smirked and shook my head as I realized how fucking whipped I sounded.

"Clay, you got a minute?" I asked after finishing my cigarette and flicking the butte away. He nodded and joined me a few yards away from the rest of our brothers.

"What's on your mind, killer?" He smiled broadly at me. I kept my expression neutral as I looked him in the eye. There was no comfortable way to talk about this.

"Thought you should know I'm with Recker." I said flatly. Clay's brow rose and he cocked his head a little bit.

"Since when?" He asked. I shrugged and calculated the weeks.

"Few months. Don't really know where to start counting from." I said honestly. Clay didn't scowl but I could see a hint of aggravation in his eyes.

"You just now telling me this?" His voice was almost a growl, but he tried to keep it in check to avoid pissing me off. President or not, Clay knew what I was. He respected it if not feared it.

"Yeah. She's not a dirty guard, Clay. She's just my girl." I looked him dead in the eyes, hoping he'd hear the message. Clay nodded and let out a sigh.

"It could be helpful if you could persuade her otherwise, brother." He brought a hand up to my shoulder and smiled. I shook my head.

"No. She's risking enough. I'm not putting that on her. Do me a favor and don't try it either." I said carefully. I wasn't in the position to make demands to the president, but my request was pretty suggestive. He nodded and glanced over at Jax for some reason.

"Okay, brother. Long as we can avoid it." He said, leaving himself an open door just in case. It was the best I could hope for. I followed him back to our group, feeling a little more relaxed. I nodded at Jax. He smiled and nodded back. Tig raised his brow as Bobby and Juice looked around a little lost.

I was able to eat a little bit of the pathetic Christmas dinner they served us. The turkey was bland and rubbery, but the mashed potatoes and carrots were edible. I smiled as I thought about the protein bars I had stashed in my mattress. I reminded myself to thank Recker for those again.

I texted Recker as soon as we got back in the unit. O'neal was running George 3 since they were short staffed, so we were locked up for the rest of the night. As arrogant as he was, he wasn't man enough to let us out until count. Tig started writing something at the desk as I sat on his bunk.

"Ma's gonna make my girl fat." I said with a laugh as I read about the dinner Ma had fixed for herself, Recker and my aunt. My mouth watered as I thought about her home cooking. Tig looked at me and smiled, surprised by my talkative attitude.

"She's at your Ma's for Christmas?" He asked, putting his pen down and focusing on me. I nodded and smiled at the picture of the ham on the table before texting her back.

"You gonna put a crow on that girl?" Tig asked. I looked up at him and twisted my mouth. Besides Kozik, Tig was probably the brother I was closest to, but I still wasn't fond of talking about personal shit.

"If she's still around she fucking deserves it." I said with a shrug. Tig rolled his eyes since I'd neither confirmed nor denied whether she'd get my crow or not. I couldn't tell him since I didn't even know my self. If anyone was ever going to get it, she was, but I didn't know if anyone ever would.

Tig and I worked out for a little while before I climbed in my bunk for the night. The battery on the phone was half dead and I knew I only had one fresh battery to last me until she got back. I turned the phone off, hoping to make it last a little longer.

I woke up about an hour before breakfast. Despite being locked up and having a general apathy towards holidays, I was excited for this Christmas morning. I turned the phone on and smiled as it vibrated over and over with text messages from Recker. Tig groaned at the noise.

"You two never fucking sleep." He grumbled. I felt the movement of the bunk as he must have rolled over. I ignored him and grinned at the eight pictures she'd sent me. I rolled over and held the phone on my ear against the pillow as it rang.

"Happy Lowman! I'm going to kick your ass." Recker greeted me happily. Hearing the happiness in her voice made me feel like I was there with her.

"No you aren't. Merry Christmas baby." I smiled as I heard a bark in the background. She laughed.

"You don't get to get me a puppy and get away with it, even if it is adorable and blue. You realize I live in an apartment?" She asked, trying to sound mad. I laughed and nodded.

"Tell Ma I said to give you your other present." I told her. I heard Katerina growl as she must have stood up to go over to my Ma.

"Happy? Merry Christmas!" I heard my Ma's smile and almost teared up. I hadn't planned on talking to her.

"Merry Christmas, Ma. I'll be there for the next one. Promise." I said with a sad smile.

"No worries, Happy. I'm just glad you're safe. You want me to give Katerina the box?" She asked with a happy laugh.

"Yeah, Ma. Let me talk to her while she opens it. Te amo, madre." I said before she passed the phone to Katerina.

"Here she is. Te amo, Happy." I would have to thank Katerina for forcing me to talk to Ma.

"What's in the box, Happy?" Katerina asked as she returned to the line. I smirked but didn't say anything. I heard her intake a breath quickly.

"Katerina?" I asked after she didn't say anything for a minute or so. I heard the puppy growling in the background.

"What is this, Happy?" She was obviously crying. I figured she was probably doing that weird, happy crying thing.

"It's a key to my house. I want you to live with me, babe. Plus that little devil there with you will have a yard to play in." I said with a laugh. I knew that, as a cane corso, the dog would get well over a hundred pounds. My chest tightened a little as I waited for her to say anything.

"I love you, Happy." Her sob turned into a happy laugh. I smiled and punched the wall. I fucking hated sitting in this prison.

"I love you too, Kat. Give me the word and I'll have prospects start moving your stuff." I said as I twisted my knuckles into the cinder block wall.

"I'm not staying there without you, Happy. They can move it the week you get out." She said, sounding more relaxed and happy than I'd heard her in the past week or so.

"This battery's gonna die, babe. I'll call you tonight." I said as I pulled my hand back and covered my eyes with it.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later. Ma, Cici and Harley say bye." She said with a little laugh as the puppy started barking again. I laughed at the name she'd given the dog and ended the call.

"I wanna see my nephew." Tig said as his hand appeared at the edge of my bunk. I laughed and brought up a picture of Harley, our blue cane corso, and Katerina before handing the phone down to him.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

The day after Christmas found me pulling into a pet store at the crack of dawn. Happy had made sure Harley had bowls and a collapsible crate, but the poor little puppy only had one tennis ball. He rode in my passenger seat and behaved for the most part. I didn't have a leash or collar for him yet, so I just carried him inside and plopped him in a shopping cart. I laughed as he stood up with his front paws on the front of the cart.

I finished up in the treats and food aisle and headed to the cash register. I recognized a former inmate, a member of the AB, standing in line ahead of me. I tensed a little and picked Harley up. The guy looked at me for a minute before nodding and smiling a little at Harley. Luckily, he didn't say anything to me. I let out a breath of relief, considering that was the first former inmate encounter I'd ever had.

Harley and I made it back to the apartment without any excitement. He chewed on his blue and silver rope and lounged on his new bed as I got ready for Lauren's party. I heard my phone ringing as I brushed my teeth.

"Hello?" I answered with a mouth full of toothpaste. I heard Happy laugh as I spit into the sink.

"Morning, babe. You just waking up?" He asked through a yawn. I laughed and shook my head.

"Hell no. I've been up for a couple hours. Harley and I went to the pet store. You remember Williams, the AB guy with the scar on his face?" I asked as I flipped through clothes in my closet.

"Yeah, what about him?" Happy asked curiously. I tossed a black dress on my bed for consideration.

"He was in line ahead of me. He didn't say anything and I made sure to take a new way home and watch my back. It was just weird seeing him out here." I said, knowing he would worry about me being followed. He laughed a little.

"It going to be weird seeing me out?" He asked quizzically. I immediately regretted my choice of words.

"No, babe. It's going to be fucking wonderful. Harley will be happy to. He's been trying to chew on your present." I said with a laugh as Harley's ears perked at his name.

"What'd you get me? You didn't have to get me anything, Kat." Happy sounded curious and back to normal. I giggled and looked over at the black ka-bar sitting on my bedside table. I still had some time to wrap it.

"Can't tell you that babe. You okay with me going to Lauren's party?" I asked, hoping he'd be honest with me. I heard the faint noise of his hand running over the stubble on his chin.

"Yeah, it's fine. I just wish I was going to be there. She still fucking Chibs?" He asked, trying to get the subject off of him. I granted him that and nodded.

"Ever since the day after we got back from taking that medicine to your Ma. She really likes him. Normally she's pretty detached." I said, turning back to my closet and pulling out a pair boots. I knew Happy didn't really care about how Lauren felt about Chibs, but it distracted him from being inside all the same.

"Fuck, I think we've got shakedowns today. Any tips on hiding the phone, CO?" He sounded agitated and I heard him start moving around. I sighed and sat down on the bed. Normally, I'd take his phone before any shakedowns happened.

"There's a loose bolt on the right side of your ceiling light. Put it up there and make sure it doesn't make a shadow. As long as they follow the schedule I have set up, you and Tig aren't due until the day I get back. Let me know babe." I heard him grunting a little as he must have been climbing back on his bunk to reach the light.

"Alright babe. Take Harley with you tonight. Chibs wants to meet him. Have fun." He said. I nodded and said goodbye quickly. Harley was watching me as I paced around.

I knew the situation was out of my hands, so I decided to just get in the shower. Harley picked up his rope and pattered into the bathroom behind me. He hated it if I was ever out of his sight.

After a long shower and blow drying my hair, I started getting dressed. My phone vibrated with a text message, letting me know that the cell next door was searched, not theirs. I sent him a quick smiley face back and felt a weight lift off my chest. Whoever was on post stuck to the schedule.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Morning." I said, nudging Tig with my foot. He groaned and squinted at me. I smirked and turned back towards the mirror. I was shaving my beard as carefully as I could with the shitty razor they allowed us to have in here.

"What fucking time is it, Hap?" Tig yawned and rubbed his hands over his face. I looked at him through the mirror.

"Six. You're helping me with this shit." I said, motioning to my scalp. Tig raised an eyebrow as he sat up.

"Last time I checked, I'm not your barber. You trying to look pretty for Recker?" He said with a bright smile and nod. I narrowed my eyes at him and finished the last swipe over my jaw.

"I'll let you dog sit if you do it." I bargained with Tig as I held the razor out to him. He took it and rolled his eyes.

"It's not fair to use that puppy as a bribe." He said with a laugh. I shrugged and sat down in the chair as Tig rubbed shaving crème over my head.

"You mention this to anyone and I'll kill you." I said as he moved behind me and started shaving my head. He fluttered his eyelashes at me through the mirror. I closed my eyes and ignored him.

Thirty minutes later, my head was shaved down and the razor was shot to hell. Tig had run his mouth the whole time, but it was the price I paid for waking his chipper ass up. I sat on the bed and wrote out a letter to Ma while I waited for seven o'clock. The clock seemed to stop at a quarter til.

"Morning!" Recker's voice rang through the cell door as she opened it up with a smile. I jumped down off the bed quickly, never taking my eyes off of her. Tig looked between us before giving her a smile and a wave.

"Morning Recker." I said with a smile as she leaned against the doorframe. She nodded and sighed a little as she had to move on. I didn't even mind that much. Just knowing she was in the unit with me today made me happy.

I pulled on my shirt and headed out to the dayroom for breakfast. Recker was sitting at her desk and clicking the computer mouse. I glanced back at the screen and realized she was going through pictures. I recognized Harley and a picture of my ma. She gave me half a smile as I headed back to the table.

A couple hours after breakfast, Recker locked everyone down for shakedowns and inspection. She went through the first two cells down stairs pretty slowly. I knew she did it so the time she spent in our cell didn't seem abnormal, but it still frustrated me. I heard her customary knock on the door and stood up from my seat on the desk.

She was barely in the door before I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to me. Tig moved to face the door, just in case anyone came into the unit while she was in our cell. I breathed in deeply, taking in the smell of honey from her shampoo. Once I had my fill of looking at her and smelling her hair, I moved a hand up from her ass to the back of her head.

Recker moaned into my mouth as I kissed her. I was hard as soon as I'd touched her, but kissing her was all but killing my balls. She wrapped her hands around my biceps and pressed her chest into me. I pulled back and bit my bottom lip as I ran my hands over her hair.

"I missed you." Recker's voice was a purr as she kissed my neck. I nodded and kissed her lips softly.

"Same here. No more vacations, woman. Who's watching Harley?" I asked to change the subject. Tig knew I cared about her, but he didn't get to see me being a bitch.

"Lauren and Chibs. They're taking him to some park." She said, running her nails down my back lightly. I twitched at the teasing feeling and shook my head.

"Katerina, you're killing me. You're staying late tonight, right?" I asked, hoping I remembered correctly. She nodded and kissed me quickly.

"Yeah, I'll be here until two. I gotta get out of here before central control thinks you've killed me in here. Day shift actually watches cameras." She said with a laugh as I smacked her ass. She smirked back at me before nodding to Tig and closing the door to go fake some paperwork.

"We could have a fucking bomb in here and they'd never know." Tig said with a laugh. He took a seat at the desk and continued his letters to Dawn and Fawn.

I was in an uncharacteristically good mood throughout the day. Whenever I could get away with it, I was staring at Recker. Despite Ma's obvious efforts, it didn't look like she'd changed at all. The only thing out of place was the yellowing of the bruise under her eye. I tried not to focus on it considering I had a while before I could take care of her ex.

As soon as the lights went out for lockdown, I was off of my bunk at waiting at the door. I waited a couple minutes and pushed the door open. Recker had counted after the other CO, so she didn't even bother pushing the door closed after confirming the count. My eyes focused on the clock as I took the stairs two at a time.

"You in a hurry?" Katerina asked with a light laugh as I walked up to her. I looked down at the clock on her computer and waited until the time rolled over.

"Happy New Year." Katerina smiled before I kissed her. I bit down and pulled on her bottom lip a little before letting her go.

"Happy New Year, Happy." She winked and I rolled my eyes, glad to have her and her corny jokes back. I sat down in her chair and pulled her onto my lap.

"Show me." I said, pointing at the computer screen. She laughed and nodded as she brought up the pictures she'd been looking at earlier. I watched the screen while she flipped through pictures and commentated on some of them. Seeing her smiling with my family and Harley made the shit I had to deal with a lot easier to handle. I kissed her on the side of the neck as she played a video of Harley growling in his sleep.

"Is that Lauren?" I asked as the pictures moved from Christmas to some party in a bar. She nodded and laughed as she changed it to the next picture of Chibs and Lauren kissing and flipping the camera off. I smirked and shook my head.

"Happy," Katerina started as she turned around to look at me. I could tell something was wrong before she even continued.

"What?" I said leaning back in the chair and rubbing my hand over her leg. She traced her fingers over my jaw and looked me in the eyes.

"I'm worried you won't like me once you're out." She said in a low whisper. I narrowed my eyes at her and shook my head.

"That's stupid, Kat. I wouldn't have asked you to live with me or let you meet my Ma if I wasn't sure. You sure that's what you're worried about? Not if you can handle me and the club?" Her cheeks darkened a little as she shook her head.

"No, I'm not sure. This isn't my life, Happy. I'm not the one that gets to find a guy and fall in love and everything be peachy." She said while rubbing her hands over my chest and shoulders. I shook my head and huffed. Her accent was coming through, so I could tell she was upset.

"That's not anybody's life, Katerina. Look, I'm the last person to claim to know shit about relationships, but I know that's not how it works. Jax and his old lady are the closest thing I have to go off of and it sure as fuck isn't peachy. You gotta want it and work for it. Even when shit hits the fan and I'm on the road for a week, you gotta be there when I get back." I said, realizing I was new to the whole relationship thing.

"Lauren was telling me about how the clubhouse has croweaters or something." Katerina stopped speaking when she noticed my scowl. I pushed her off of my lap and stood up. She looked up at me as I shook my head.

"Stop worrying about that shit. I don't give a fuck what Lauren said about them or what you think you might know. If there's one thing I won't do, it's fool around on my old lady." I growled. Her eyes widened as I started to cool off.

"Is that what I am, Happy?" She spoke softly and looked away from me. I sighed and took her chin in my hand, tilting it upwards so she had to look at me.

"That's what you are, Katerina. You okay with that?" I raised a brow at her in question until she nodded her head. I kissed her hard as I pulled her to me. It was one hell of a way to start a year, fucking my prison guard old lady on her desk. I didn't try to hide my satisfied grin as I closed my cell door behind me.

**Just so you know, the next chapter will have a time jump and soon after that our boys will be out! I know everyone is looking forward to Katerina and Happy being together in Charming and so am I :)**


	12. Shake Down

**SIX MONTHS LATER (MONTH 13 OF 14)**

I pulled at the ends of my hair as I sat at the stoplight. Lauren looked over at and shook her head. She sat the seat up and nudged my arm.

"You've got no damn reason to be nervous, K. You're an old lady just like me and the women you're freaking out over meeting." She said as I pulled into the clubhouse parking lot. It was just before sundown and there were already tons of people milling around.

"None of you are guards over the majority of the chapter sitting in prison." I muttered as I turned the car off. She waved my comment off and got out of the car. She and Happy had convinced me to go to the party, despite my arguments. I had tried to use Harley as an excuse not to go, but Opie picked him up and took him to his house for his kids to play with.

"Katerina, glad ya're finally comin around." Chibs said as he hugged me with one arm. I blushed a little and nodded as I followed he and Lauren inside. My eyes darted from one part of the clubhouse to another as I tried to take everything in.

Opie's old lady, Lyla, walked up and gave me a big hug before offering me a shot. I didn't even ask what it was before throwing it back and thanking her with a smile. She laughed and patted my arm.

"Hey, if they get over a porn star being an old lady, they'll get over a guard." She said with a wink. I laughed and felt my self relax a little. She and I joined Chibs, Opie and Lauren at one of the pool tables and chatted about Harley.

"You're back, I see." I turned from Lyla and Lauren to see Gemma walking up to our group. I shrugged and smiled as genuinely as I could through the nerves that had resurfaced. She narrowed her eyes at me and looked me up and down.

"It's nice to see you again, Gemma." I mustered up every bit of confidence I had from the harsh pep talk Happy had given me. It hadn't been so much a pep talk as him saying I was his old lady and not to let them give me shit.

"Clay said you might come. Funny how you're the only one with access to them, yet you don't help. Some old lady you are." She growled as she walked a few steps closer to me. I let my smile drop and sighed. I knew it would be mentioned eventually.

"Gemma, I help them as much as I can. Just being with Happy can get me locked up for a long time." I said to defend myself. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Sucking his dick while he's locked up isn't much help." She growled. It was my turn to roll my eyes.

"You realize the phone batteries Clay gets don't just pop up out of thin air? How about the extra time during visitation or the letters that get mailed out without screening? Hell, let's not even start with the shanks and shit they've all got in their cells. But no, Gemma, you're right. I work over sixty hours a weeks to suck dick and make their time in there as difficult as I can." Gemma's expression was either surprised or confused by not being able to understand me through my accent. I couldn't tell and didn't really care that much anymore.

"Okay, relax." She said flatly before heading off to talk to some girl I assumed was a croweater. I heard Lyla giggle a little once she was out of earshot. I raised my brow at her as I downed another shot.

"You're an old lady if I ever saw one." Chibs said, raising his glass to me. I shrugged and relaxed again.

"Recker?" The sound of my last name in the clubhouse startled me as I tried to shoot pool. I ended up scratching and giving everyone a good laugh.

"Tara, right?" I smiled at the no longer pregnant brunette I'd seen several months ago. She grinned and nodded as she walked over to join us.

"I heard about Gemma. She can be intense but it's only gotten worse since Clay went in." Tara shook her head and leaned up against the back of a couch. I nodded and took another shot, sinking the cue ball. Alcohol may help me socialize, but it did nothing for my pool game.

"I get that. I'd probably be the same way if I were in her shoes. I guess you're ready for Jax to be home." I said with a smile as I passed my pool cue to Lauren, resigning my spot against Opie.

"If you only knew. With one in diapers and one trying to get out of them, my hands are definitely full. Do you have any kids?" She took two beers off a tray and passed one over to me. I laughed and shook my head.

"Not unless you count the fifty pound puppy Opie and Lyla's kids are babysitting for me." Tara smirked and shrugged her shoulder.

"It could count. If you need any help moving or just want to talk, give me a call. I've got to head home, I just wanted to stop by and officially welcome you as an old lady." She gave me a card with her information on it before hugging me goodbye. Lyla gave me a thumbs up as I turned back towards everyone else. I spent the rest of the night getting drunk and sucking at pool. My body was so numb from the liquor, I almost didn't feel my phone vibrating in my pocket.

"'Ello?" I said, leaning up against Lauren for support before sitting back down on a couch. She laughed and relished in the fact that I was the drunk one for once.

"Katerina, are you drunk?" Happy asked with a laugh. His voice made me smile. I nodded.

"I'll take that as a yes. I can't see you nod, babe. Everything go okay?" He asked me. I nodded again before remember he couldn't see me.

"Guess so. Gemma was kinda mean but I got through it. Tara is really nice, tell Jax I said so. I'm about to head home." I said with a yawn as Chibs shook his head at me.

"No, not drunk you aren't. I've got a dorm you can stay in. Just tell Chibs." His voice was raspy and I could tell he was tired.

"Happy, when you come home I'm going to hug you until I fall asleep." I slurred. He laughed lightly.

"Sounds good, Kat. Get some sleep." It was obvious he was fighting a yawn. I nodded and yawned.

"Love you, Happy. Goodnight." I closed my eyes and rested my head on Lauren's shoulder.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Love you, Katerina." I was pretty sure she was already asleep before I answered her. I shook my head and put the phone up in the ceiling light. She'd warned us that higher-ups might start doing random searches, so I never kept it on me too long anymore. I closed my eyes and did my best to go to sleep.

"You're friendly today." Tig said with a laugh as I pushed out another rep on the weight bench. I wasn't particularly pissed, I was just aggravated in general. The day wasn't any different than any other day Recker had off, I just had my mind focused on the wrong things.

Every time we got an order from a CO, I thought about how I did my own thing on the outside. When we went out for rec, it reminded me that the fucking prison dictated my every movement. It was a bad mindset to be in, but I couldn't seem to shake it. Even as I lifted weights, I focused on the barbwire on top of the high walls surrounding us.

"Happy, need you over here for a minute." Clay called from the gazebo we'd started using more often. I put the bar up on the rack and made my way over, wiping the rust on my jeans. My eyes met Jax's and I could tell this wasn't good.

"Happy, I've done my best to keep Recker on the outside, but we need her help." Clay said, looking up at me with a stone expression. I shook my head and folded my arms over my chest.

"What's so important that you can't avoid dragging my old lady in to it?" I asked sharply. I wasn't one to speak out or question an officer of the club, but Recker was mine to protect.

"Brother, we need to get a message to Otto. I'm not asking for a meeting, just a message delivery." Clay gave me a small smile as I stared at him blankly. I didn't even want my old lady to be a messenger.

"I'll ask her. If she says no then it's a no. I can't force her to risk going in for a fucking note." I growled before Clay could get too excited. He nodded as if he understood but by the look Jax gave him, I doubted that was the case.

"Hey." I said flatly when Katerina answered the phone. She groaned a little and it made me relax. She was obviously hung over from the party.

"What'd you do today?" I asked, hoping she'd talk so her voice could calm me down. I heard her yawn and I could almost picture the way her nose scrunched up.

"Woke up, got sick, picked up Harley, went for a walk, played fetch and now we're laying in bed watching some show about gypsies." Like magic, her voice took the edge off even though she hadn't said anything too important. I stretched out on my bunk and closed my eyes.

"I don't want to ask you this, but Clay needs a fucking favor." I growled, hoping she wouldn't mind. I heard her shuffling around in the sheets and Harley grunting.

"What is it?" Her tone had changed a little, but it wasn't angry quite yet.

"He needs to send some message to Otto Delaney. I don't know what it is or anything else other than that." I said, wishing for more information for once. I heard Katerina sigh a little before she spoke.

"Fine but I can't be a go between. I can probably talk to him once, but anything more than that would be risking too much." She said sternly. I didn't feel relieved that she'd agreed.

"So, how was the party? Drunk you didn't talk much." I said with hopes of changing the subject. When she told me about what Gemma said, I was pissed off all over again.

"You don't deserve that shit, Katerina. I'm glad you told her off." I said, glaring up at the concrete ceiling above me. She laughed a little and continued telling me about how she sucks at pool and her talk with Tara.

"Happy, did you hear a word I said?" Recker asked with a laugh. I sighed and shook my head.

"Yeah, sorry Kat. It's been a rough day." I said gruffly. It irritated me that I was torn up over a woman. I started wondering if maybe it was just the year I'd spent inside that had me so worked up about her.

"I'm sorry babe. I'll let you go. Just have Clay call me about the message before lockdown. I'm going to bed early." Her voice was soft and cautious.

"Alright. Goodnight, Katerina." I hit the end button and pulled up the pictures in the phone. I knew it was a risk to save them for someone to find, but I couldn't delete them.

I scrolled down to the picture of her and Harley at the park. She was smiling and Harley was licking the side of her face. I ran my palm over the ink around the base of my neck and looked into her bright eyes. It wasn't the time inside that had me clinging to her. It was that smile and damn near everything else about her. Even the way she fucking snapped celery with her teeth made me love her.

I closed the phone and put it up in the ceiling light. One more fucking month and I'd be out with my club and my old lady. There was probably going to be some bullshit with the deal Clay made, but as long as I had Recker, it didn't seem that bad.

I stood by the door and waited for the CO to make their next round so I could get out. I reminded myself to call Recker later to make up for being a dick.

"Clay, make sure to call Recker before lockdown." I said, sliding him a piece of paper with her number on it. He nodded and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"I appreciate it, Hap." I nodded and sat down for a couple hands of spades before count.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Hello?" I mumbled as I answered my phone without opening my eyes. Harley grunted and hopped off the bed and into his doggy bed.

"Shit, babe. I didn't mean to wake you up." Happy's voice was low and raspy. I squinted at the clock and saw that it was after eleven. I yawned and stretched my spine.

"It's okay, Happy. Everything okay?" I asked, crawling out of bed. I pulled on a robe and headed out to the swing on my balcony.

"Yeah, just ready to get the fuck out of here. What are you wearing, baby?" I could hear the smirk in his voice. I looked down and blushed a little.

"A thong and a robe. I came outside for some fresh air." I said, staring out over the Oakland skyline. Most of the lights were already out, but the few remaining made the night sky sparkle a little.

"Katerina, get in the fucking house." Happy growled with a mix of aggravation and excitement.

"Baby, no one can see me. I'm on my balcony in a corner unit. I don't think planes fly low enough to look at my boobs." Happy grunted, still not too convinced I should be outside.

"I'm about to fall asleep. I just wanted to talk to you." That made me smile and I headed back inside and into bed.

"Goodnight, Happy." My head was barely on the pillow before Harley jumped back up into bed.

"Goodnight, Kat. I love you." Happy ended the call before I could respond. If memory served me, that was the first time he'd ever said it first.

"Captain Rankin, I'm going down to seg for a few minutes. I've got a hunch about where some contraband is coming from and I just want to check out a lead." I was lying through my teeth and only hoping he wouldn't question me or offer to accompany me. He was certainly surprised but didn't ask any questions before nodding his head.

I was in and out of segregation within five minutes. The whole time I talked to Otto, I felt like someone was watching me. I passed on Clay's message and got Otto's response without any real knowledge of what I was passing on. They seemed to have some type of code and I didn't want to know what crime I'd just assisted with.

"Recker, wait up!" O'neal called from behind me. I slowed down but continued down towards my unit. He fell in step beside me with a smile.

"What's up?" I asked between bites of my banana. He shrugged and gave me a once over.

"Just thought I'd walk a pretty lady to her door." He said, laughing a little at his own joke. I inclined my head and pursed my lips, obviously not as amused with his humor.

"I think I can manage, O'neal." He'd been flirting heavy for the past few weeks. Ever since I'd had coffee next to him in the break room, he thought I was into him. It was a relief when I reached my unit and buzzed for central control to pop the door.

I scowled as I walked in and saw Wright sitting at my desk. I'd been told he wouldn't be coming back to George 3, yet there he sat, smug as a snail. He waved at me and gave me a smile as I locked my bag up in the wall locker.

"Are you lost?" I growled. He didn't move and forced me to reach around him to get my binders to start my morning checks.

"We're doing a unit shake down while they're out to lunch." He explained, smacking his lips as he chewed on his gum.

"We? Last time I checked you were told not to come back down here after almost getting me killed in front of children." I snapped as I inventoried the cleaning supplies on the cart by the door. Wright's smile widened.

"You're a tough girl. We're short handed on unit management and I know the unit, so Captain sent me down. You get any information on that contraband?" He asked, wiggling his brow at me. I shrugged and signed off on the inventory sheet.

"Not much. All I really found out is it's on a schedule. Wednesdays are the drop offs." I was talking through my teeth. I had no knowledge or care where the inmates were getting their fucking cigarettes.

"Well, it's our lucky day. They should still have most of it since it's only Thursday. The more they have the harder it is to find." He cracked his knuckles and leaned back in my chair.

"Yep. Shit, I forgot to pick up cuffs at central. You mind going to get me a pair?" I said with a bashful smile. Wright rolled his eyes but nodded all the same.

As soon as I heard the sallyport door close behind him, I headed around to do my rounds and lock checks. It was still to early to let them out, but I had to open the doors to check the locks, so I could at least talk to them.

I moved quickly through the cell doors, hearing grumbling about the time of day as I moved along. I got to Clay and Jax's door and pretended like the lock was sticking.

"Teller. Teller. Damnit, Jax." I growled loudly to wake him up. He shot up straight and looked at me with surprise.

"Either ditch the phone in the garbage on the way to rec or give it to me now." I didn't have time to explain, so I was happy to see Clay wake up and toss me the phone quickly. I slid it in my pocket and pretended to fix the lock before moving on. Bobby and Juice didn't have any burners, so I wasn't as worried.

"Ortiz, get rid of the pills on your way to rec. Shakedowns at lunch." I whispered as I checked he and Bobby's lock. He raised his brow at me but nodded.

I moved up stairs and picked up the pace, worried about how much time I had before Wright got back. I opened Happy and Tig's door and whispered loudly at him. He narrowed his eyes and squinted at me as he woke up.

"What's wrong?" He asked, picking up on my stress. I shook my head.

"Give me the phone. Wright and I are shaking down and I can't risk you getting caught." I spoke quickly and watched as he moved just as fast.

"Here. Hide that shit or get rid of it." He squeezed my hand a little as I nodded and took the phone from him. I heard the buzzing of the unit door just as I opened the next cell door. I felt as if the two phones weighed hundreds of pounds in my pockets. If either of them went off before I could hide them, I could catch my own charges.

Luckily, the shakedown went smoothly and my warning to the Sons kept them from getting caught with anything. I breathed easier after Wright left and the inmates headed back into the unit. Almost as soon as the lights went off for lockdown, Happy popped out of his cell.

"Hey." I said with a smile as he sat down on the desk. He nodded and looked at me with a steel expression.

"You got any money saved up?" I raised my brow at his question. He'd never asked me about money before.

"Yeah. Why?" He nodded and closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply. I had a feeling whatever was coming wasn't good.

"This is your last night, Kat. Call Chibs and have him send prospects to get your stuff and move it into my place." His eyes didn't leave mine as he spoke. I furrowed my brow and shook my head.

"Happy, I was supposed to work another month. I told you I'm not moving in until you're out." My voice faded as I saw the anger flaring up across his face.

"I don't care what your plans were. The safest place for you to be is Charming. Remember Williams, the kid you saw at the store?" Happy was trying to keep his voice down. I racked my brain, trying to remember.

"The pet store? Yeah, what about him?" The mention of someone on the outside made me nervous. Happy nodded his head.

"White's not too happy about some new friends we've made. Otto heard mention of your name in the library. I'm not risking shit, Katerina. That kid knows too much about where you go." He growled. I shook my head and sighed.

"Fine. I think you're overreacting though. Is that what the message was about?" I asked, wondering about what Happy wasn't telling me. I wasn't stupid enough to think he was telling me everything. I was only getting enough of the information to make me cooperate.

"No, just part of it." He had moved around the desk and was standing in front of me. I nodded and pushed the situation to the back of my mind. I stood up and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"This has to last you over a month, Lowman." He ran his hand into my hair and pulled. I moaned and leaned my head back, exposing my neck to him. The feel of his tongue and teeth on my skin made me hate his plan even more.

**OOOOOOOOOH Goodness! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews :) They make my day and motivate me to write more and more. As promised, next chapter finds the Sons out in the real world :) Hope you enjoyed this chapter**


	13. Out

**1 MONTH LATER…RELEASE DAY**

Out of the three times I'd gotten out of prison from a long stint, this had to be the one I looked forward to the most. When we stepped out from behind the chain link and barbed wire, I immediately felt myself breathing a little easier. It felt great to be back on my motorcycle, but the ride home was a blur since my focus was seeing my girl. We'd decided it would be safer if I didn't keep the burner, so I hadn't even talked to her since her last night at work.

We pulled into Teller-Morrow to see everyone standing outside of the clubhouse waiting to welcome us home. I kept my eyes on Jax's back so I didn't wreck trying to look for Katerina. Once my engine was off, it was easy to find out where she was. Harley's barks could be heard over everyone else's cheers.

I climbed off my bike and hung my helmet on my handle bar. Two croweaters headed towards me with their boobs spilling out of their barely there shirts. I brushed them off, focusing my eyes on my girl.

"Katerina." I said with a smile before picking her up off the ground and kissing her. No matter how many times we'd kissed or fucked in the unit, it was nothing like holding her outside. The crowd of people around us kind of disappeared as I ran my tongue over hers. After a couple minutes, Katerina pulled away slowly. Her cheeks were red and she was smiling brightly.

"Welcome Home, Happy." She kissed me quickly and pulled away before I could pull her in again. I looked her over and resisted the urge to bend her over a picnic table. Her shorts showed off her legs and the black shirt showed the tops of her boobs. I decided she wasn't ever allowed to wear her hair up again.

Harley jumping up cut my taking in the miles of legs in front of me short. He slammed his huge paws into my chest and panted dog breath in my face. I laughed and shoved him off of me as Katerina pulled back on his leash.

"Sorry buddy. You're not the man of the house anymore." I said, bending down in front of him and scratching just behind his ears. Katerina had obviously trained him. If not, his size alone would be too much for her. I wouldn't doubt if he weighed more than her.

"He usually hates men. I guess he knows who family is." Katerina said with a smile as I pulled her under my arm. I nodded and kissed the top of her head.

"Church in ten." Clay called out as he and Gemma headed inside. I groaned and glanced down at Katerina. She was looking up at me with a smile.

"It's fine, babe. Chibs warned me you'd probably have some stuff to handle today. Come on, I want to introduce you to Lauren. She's pregnant by the way. Just don't say anything she doesn't want anyone to know so it doesn't interfere with Lyla and Opie's wedding." Katerina spoke quickly as she led me over to the brunette standing with Chibs.

"Lauren, this is Happy. Happy, this is Lauren." The brunette smiled at me but I could tell she was a little nervous. I nodded and gave her a tight smile.

"It's about time I finally meet my best friend's man." Lauren said with a laugh. I nodded.

"Same here, but you're an ol' lady." I said as Katerina squeezed my hand. I hadn't planned on responding, but apparently I should have.

"Church shouldn't be too long, Kat. You staying here or going home?" She looked up at me and shook her head.

"Neither. I'm going to help Lyla get ready for tonight. She invited me to come." I nodded and kissed her forehead.

"Kat, you're mine. Even if she didn't invite you, you'd be going with me. After the wedding you're gonna get help remembering that." I growled. She obviously needed reminding of the fact that she was my old lady. She laughed and nodded before pulling on Harley's leash.

"This is your car?" I asked as she opened the passenger door to a lowered and modified Nissan 350z. She closed the door after Harley got inside.

"Yes, Happy. Did you think I drove a mini-van?" She winked and tried to dodge my hand. I smacked her ass and she winced playfully.

"Be careful, Kat." She nodded and kissed me goodbye before lowering herself down into the car and starting it up. I shook my head at the loud exhaust system as I headed into the clubhouse.

Less than an hour after making it to the clubhouse, we were already clashing against the local pd. Chibs, Juice, Tig, Bobby, Kozik and I were sitting up against wooden posts, cuffed.

"How much are you giving them?" I asked when Chibs mentioned giving Opie and Lyla money for their wedding gift. He laughed.

"More than your cheap ass." He called down to me. I scowled and strained against my cuffs.

"I'm not cheap, just mindful of excessive spending." I said, defending my spending habits.

"Dude, you reuse condoms." Kozik said, making everyone laugh including me.

"Nah, don't need 'em anymore." I boasted. Tig laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess your condom fund went towards that horse you bought Recker." He said loudly. I shot him a look as the cops walked up to us.

"Sorry about the misunderstanding. Didn't mean to clip you." The shorter cop started cutting us loose as the tall one spoke to Chibs. He narrowed his eyes and rubbed his wrists as he stood up.

"Aye, I'm sure ya are." We got back on the bikes and headed out to the reservation. We'd accomplished distracting Clay's tail, so all that was left was the job during the reception. I just hoped my old lady wouldn't bust my balls for leaving her for most of the wedding.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Are you sure I look okay?" I looked down at the black mini-dress Lyla had picked out of my closet for me to wear. It had a halter top that stopped right under my boobs and it fit to me like a glove. My favorite part was probably the studs on the bottom half. The rest made me feel a little self conscious, especially since I was used to Happy seeing me in a uniform.

"Oh my god. Yes, Katerina. I don't know why you never wear any of these." She said, holding up the heels she'd dug out of my duffle bag. I laughed and shrugged.

"Shut up. You're the special one today. Sit." I said with a smile as I walked over to help with her hair. She was bouncing her leg up and down nervously as I ran a curler over her hair.

"Do you think you and Happy will get married?" She asked. I blinked in surprise.

"We haven't really talked about it." I said pensively. It was already a big adjustment to move to Charming and live with someone I'd only known inside Stockton. The thought of marriage hadn't really come to mind before Lyla's question.

"Breathe, Kat. I was just trying to think about something other than my nerves. Happy's a great guy. He's intense, but they all are to some point." She said with her head leaned back. She smiled up at me as I nodded.

I finished Lyla's hair and gave her a big hug before heading back to Happy's house to drop Harley off. I picked up Happy's Christmas present and stuffed it in my bag before letting Harley in the backyard and heading out to the reservation. I groaned when my bumper scraped pulling into the grass parking area.

I caught site of Happy standing next to a huge guy biker with long blondish brown hair. I pulled at the bottom of my dress as I made my way over. The tall guy nudged Happy and nodded his head towards me. Happy turned around and grinned.

"Hey." I said shyly as he pulled me to him. He kissed me hard and ran his hand down my side.

"You're too fucking hot." His whisper was a growl next by my ear. I smiled and kissed his cheek. He smirked and pulled back.

"Quinn, this is my ol' lady Katerina. Babe, this is Quinn. He's the Nomad president even though I'm trying to talk him into joining up with SAMCRO." Happy said with a smirk. I shook Quinn's hand and realized my palm was less than half the size of his.

The ceremony was like nothing I'd been to before. In the crowd to celebrate with Opie and Lyla were Sons from several charters, Mayans, Niners, and even some Russians. It reminded me of a story I read about the axis and allies stopping the fight on Christmas day. Seeing everyone together made you almost forget there was a constant battle over turf, weapons, and even drugs going on every day.

I blushed a little when Opie promised Lyla to treat her as good as her leather and ride her as much as his Harley. Everyone erupted in cheers, whistles and clapping as they kissed. Happy hugged me to his side and kissed the top of my head.

"Babe, I've got to go take care of something. Stay and have fun. If you go home make sure a prospect goes with you." Happy said a few minutes after Opie and Lyla cut into their cake. I scowled and looked him in the eyes.

"Happy, you're home now. I'm tired of having an escort everywhere I go." He narrowed his eyes at me but I stood my ground. Ever since the morning following my last shift at Stockton, I'd had a prospect attached to me. When I was home, they normally stayed outside until night when they'd come in and stay in the living room while I went to bed. My rearview mirror was always filled with a motorcycle behind me, even if I was just going to the store.

"Kat, I don't have time to argue with you about it. I wasn't fucking asking you." He growled before kissing me roughly on the cheek and following Juice and Chibs towards a box truck. I narrowed my eyes and turned away.

"You get used to it." Tara said as she walked up behind me. I scoffed and shook my head.

"It's not that he's leaving. I'm just sick of having a babysitter." I said before taking a beer from the open bar. Tara nodded and pursed her lips.

"What?" I asked after drinking half of the bottle. She sighed and took a beer herself.

"Look, you might be used to calling the shots in Stockton but out here? It's their world. They have a different way of doing things. You're an old lady in a man's world. Just pick your battles. Him being over protective is better than the alternative." Tara said with a frown. I raised my brow and tossed my empty bottle into the garbage.

"The alternative being what?" I asked as we headed over to an empty table. She twisted a ring on her left hand that I hadn't noticed before.

"Not caring and getting their needs met else where when you're sitting at home with their child." Tara said with a sigh. After seeing the change in Jax from before he'd talked to her to after, I never would have imagined him stepping out on her.

"Oh." Is the only response I could find to her confession. She gave me a half smile and hitched a shoulder.

"They're all different. Happy is the most loyal person I've ever known. You may have to compete with the club, but I don't seem him messing around on you. You're too beautiful anyways." She said. Her smile brightened and she laughed a little. I shook my head with a smile.

"Thanks. Fuck this heavy talk. This is a party." I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her out to the dance floor where the remaining guests and Lyla were dancing. She loosened up the more I forced her to dance.

A couple hours of dancing and drinking later, I needed to get off my feet and started missing my bed. I blushed a little and reminded myself that it was our bed, not mine. I grimaced and walked up to Miles.

"Let's go, shadow." He laughed at his new nickname and nodded. I said my goodbyes to everyone and headed out to my car. I stopped at the back of the car and huffed. No matter how intoxicated or tired I was, I knew better than to drive in that state.

"Here," I snapped and tossed my keys at miles. He caught them and raised his brow. I gestured to the driver's side before throwing the passenger door open and falling down into the seat. I hated letting anyone else drive my car.

"You hurt my car and I'll kill you." I growled before leaning my seat back and closing my eyes. I felt a soft, repetitive tapping on my shoulder and opened my eyes.

"We're here." Miles grimaced a little and dropped my keys in my hand. I nodded and climbed out of the car, hoping he wasn't looking up my dress. I stumbled up to the door and let myself in. I left the door open for Miles, knowing he wouldn't stay outside.

I didn't even bother taking my dress off before climbing into the middle of the bed.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

I pulled into my driveway and felt my blood start to boil. There was no bike in the driveway and Katerina's front bumper was cracked and barely hanging onto the car. I threw the door open and saw Miles nodding off on the couch. I relaxed a little since she'd actually listened to me.

"Where's your bike." I growled at him as I put my helmet down on the coffee table. He jumped and looked around in high alert.

"Uh, what? Oh, yeah it's on the reservation. She made me drive her car since she got drunk with Tara." He said with a shrug before standing up.

"You're going to fix her bumper. Where the fuck is my dog?" I snapped as he headed towards the door. He paled a little and started apologizing. I snapped and pointed at the door before opening the back door and letting a pissed off cane corso inside. Katerina had told me a long time ago that he hated being outside when she was home.

Harley rushed down the hallway and opened the cracked door with his head. I followed him and watched as he walked around the bed, staring at Katerina, who was passed out in the middle of the bed. I hung my kutte up on a hook by the door and patted his side.

"She's fine. Go to bed." I said with a smirk at Katerina's groan. Harley surprised me by looking at her one more time and heading out to the living room. Apparently, he was a better dog than I thought.

"Kat." I growled as I climbed in to bed and hovered over her. She groaned and rolled over to her stomach. I laughed and kissed her bare shoulder. I repeated her name and ran a hand over her ass. She groaned again but it sounded more like a moan that time.

"Happy?" She asked sleepily. I laughed and grabbed a handful of her ass.

"Better not have to question that shit in this bed." She rolled over and smirked at my comment.

"Why are your jeans still on?" She asked, yanking at the chain on my side. I kissed her chest and looked back up at her.

"Thought you might be too tired or pissed." I said as she started undoing my belt. She shook her head and kissed my neck.

"I remember all this big talk about getting me in bed and reminding me that I was an old lady. All talk no action." She teased with a wink. I narrowed my eyes at her and grabbed the wrist that was at my waist. She smirked when I slammed it into the bed by her side.

"Your smart mouth is going to get you in trouble, woman." I let go of her wrist and pulled her farther down in the bed by her hips. She moaned when I bit the flesh that was showing on her chest.

"I'm so glad you're home." She moaned as she raked her nails down my back. I smirked and nodded as I untied the back of her dress.

"Me too." I kissed her mouth and bit down on her lip before peeling the dress over hear head. I hardened even more at the sight of her strappy black bra and thong. I trailed kisses and bites down her golden skin, relishing in the moans dripping from her lips.

"Please, Happy." She panted as I licked the inside of her thigh after biting it. I moved to hover over her and kissed the side of her neck.

"What? What do you want, Katerina?" I growled and pulled on her earlobe with my teeth. She pushed her hands into my chest and sank her nails into my skin.

"Stop teasing me, Happy. Fuck me." She growled as I shoved her hands away. I smirked and gave her a quick nod.

"I'll get to it. Take care of the first one, it won't take long." I growled as I sat back on my knees and waited for her. She narrowed her eyes at me as she kneeled before me. I grabbed a handful of her hair as she pulled my jeans and boxers down.

Katerina licked me up and down as her hands gripped my thighs. I moaned as she took me in her mouth slowly. She moved her knees back so she was on all fours as she ran her tongue over my head before raking her teeth down the length. I unsnapped her bra and grabbed her nipple between my thumb and middle finger as I watched her back and ass moved as she sucked.

I felt myself building up quickly and moved her head up and down faster with my hand wrapped in her hair. I felt the back of her throat on my tip and came hard.

"Jesus, Katerina. You're so good." I moaned as she pulled off of me and swirled her tongue over my tip. It sent tingles down my spine and she smirked with pleasure.

"Welcome home, baby." She whispered in my ear before moving and laying back on the bed. I smirked and pushed my jeans and boxers into the floor. She raised her brow as I yanked her thong down her legs and threw it off the bed. She smirked and did the same with her bra.

"You tired?" I asked, running my palms down from her knees to her thighs. She shook her head with a grin. I nodded and pushed her legs apart. I bit my bottom lip, as I looked her over. Getting to take my time with her and really look at her was worth the fourteen months in a fucking cell.

I spread her fold apart and ran my thumb up from her hole to her clit. She moaned and squirmed a little as I rubbed harder at her clit.

"Don't move, Kat." I growled as I continued rubbing and slid two fingers into her. She moaned again and I felt her clinch around me. I smirked and pulled my fingers back before adding a third and thrusting them into her. She whimpered and breathed heavily as I continued until I was hard again.

"Why'd you stop?" She moaned as I pulled my hand away. I answered by rubbing my shaft over her before easing into her. I knew it'd been over a month and I didn't want to hurt her too bad. She arched her back and moaned loudly as I pushed further in.

I moved in and out of her slowly until I was sure I wasn't hurting her. She groaned as I pulled out and pulled her up to me. I flipped her over onto all fours and thrust into her quickly.

"God, Happy. Please." She yelled between pants. I wrapped my palm around her throat and pulled her back up against my chest. She leaned her head back to expose more of her throat to me as I tightened my grip on her.

My name turned into moans and uh's as she came around me. I loosened my grip on her throat and rubbed her clit as she panted and screamed. Feeling how wet she was on my skin pushed me over the edge and I came hard inside of her.

She collapsed onto the bed and started shuddering a little. I smirked and kissed her shoulder before climbing off the bed and grabbing a towel out of the bathroom. I dried myself off before tossing her the towel and pulling my boxers on.

I caught her by the waist as she headed into the bathroom and kissed her forehead.

"Thanks for being here." I whispered. She looked up at me and grinned before kissing me briefly on the mouth. I let her go and climbed into my side of the bed.

"I'm going to cuddle you so hard." She threatened as she hopped back into bed wearing one of my t-shirts. I laughed and pulled her over to me. For the first time, I let a woman cuddle with me and fall asleep on my chest. It felt normal with Katerina.

**They're home, yay! Don't get too used to multiple updates per day as I'm going ****back to work in a couple weeks. Until then though, I'll write as much as I can. Hope you enjoyed :)**


	14. Audi

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

I slipped out of bed as quietly as I could so Happy could get some sleep. I wasn't even sure when he'd finally gotten in, but I knew it was late. I pulled on a sports bra and a pair of yoga pants and headed for the bedroom door. I glanced back at him and decided I should probably put a shirt on. I grabbed a t-shirt from my drawer and tiptoed out of the room.

"You ready?" I asked Harley as he ran in circles in the living room. I laughed and pointed towards the door. He bounded out of it as soon as I opened it. I grabbed his leash just in case before closing the door behind me and heading out for our morning run. I stopped at the end of the driveway and stretched my legs. They were already sore and aching from last night's bedroom activity.

I cut the run short since I'd waken up late. We were jogging back onto our street when I noticed a car that wasn't normally around. One thing I loved about Charming was being able to recognize when something was out of place. I whistled at Harley and picked up the pace. We made it back home in record time. I supported myself on the kitchen counter and took a minute to catch my breath. Harley lapped up a whole bowl of water before getting back into bed.

"Kat, where are you going?" Happy growled as I stepped out of the shower and dried my hair with a fluffy grey towel.

"Work. I wanted you to sleep but I was hoping you'd follow me over." I said with a sigh. I hated admitting that he might be right about needing an escort. He propped up on his elbows and looked at me as I dug around in my drawer for some underwear.

"Work? Where the fuck are you working?" He asked with a yawn. I stepped into my panties and looked up at him.

"Lauren and I are opening another bar just outside of town. Chibs wanted her to be closer so we hired a manager for the one in Oakland and bought a new building." I explained while getting dressed. Happy didn't look to enthusiastic.

"You said you had money, Kat." He growled as he climbed out of bed. I pulled a tan boot up to just below my knee and zipped it.

"I do, Happy. I'm only working part time, even after it opens. Are you going to follow me or do you want me to call Miles?" I asked as I pulled the second boot on. He walked out of the bathroom with a scowl and a toothbrush in his mouth. He disappeared long enough to spit the toothpaste out before storming back into the room.

"You're not fucking calling the prospect. You're mine, Kat. If you need something you ask me. If I can't do it then I'll fucking get somebody to do it." He snapped as he yanked a t-shirt over his head. I pursed my lips and tried to remember what Tara had said about picking fights and being in his world now.

I went into the bathroom and dried my hair as he finished getting dressed. I cut the hairdryer off when I noticed him standing behind me. I looked at him through the mirror and waited for him to say something.

"Just let me take care of you, Katerina." He kissed the top of my head and ran a hand over my shoulder. "Why are you suddenly okay with escorts?"

"I was running with Harley and saw a car that doesn't belong here. It was a couple of blocks up but it made me nervous. I think you have me paranoid." I said with a smile as he nodded. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What?" He asked, leaning up against the counter and facing me. I laughed and shook my head.

"If I said I went running by myself you would have flipped out. Something tells me Harley was meant for more than cuddling and playing fetch." I said, figuring out the ulterior motive behind the type of puppy he'd gotten me.

"Get outta my head, Kat." He smiled and kissed me before standing up and heading out of the bedroom. I rolled my eyes and finished my hair and makeup before joining him in the kitchen.

"You ready?" I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his back as he finished his coffee. Just standing in the kitchen with him made me happy and thankful he was home. I loved the way he smelled like leather and cologne.

"You're riding with me." He said as he turned around and pulled me closer to him. He kissed me before I could object. He swirled his tongue over mine and I felt myself wanting him more. I pushed back with a hand on his chest.

"I'll ride your motorcycle. I don't have time to ride you this morning." I said with a wink. He smirked and smacked my ass before letting me go and walking towards the door. He paused after handing me a helmet. I didn't understand why he was giving me a look like he was bracing for something. As soon as we walked outside, it made sense.

"I'm going to fucking kill him!" I yelled as I bent down and looked at my front bumper. Paint was scraped and the fiberglass was cracked in the middle. I felt like hitting something as I wiggled it with my hand and it barely hung onto the rest of the car.

"He's getting it fixed, Kat. I saw it when I got home. I'll make sure it's done by the end of the week." Happy said, rubbing a hand on my lower back. I huffed and stormed over towards his bike. I could tell he was trying not to laugh and it pissed me off even more.

"Unless you want to be added to the hit list, you'll stop fucking smirking, Happy. I don't care how cute you think I sound when I'm mad." I snapped as I strapped my helmet on and climbed on behind him. He shook his head and I felt his abs move with laughter.

I gave him the address before he cranked the bike up and backed it out of the driveway. It'd been years since I'd been on a motorcycle and even then it was a dirt bike out in the desert. I tightened my grip around his waist and held my breath as he revved the engine.

"That Audi the car you were talking about?" Happy asked as he climbed off his Harley and followed me inside. I nodded and watched as his wheels started turning in his head.

"Yeah, but they could be visiting someone, I guess. What are you doing today?" I asked as I sat my bag on the glass-topped bar. He shook his head and kissed me.

"Just taking care of some shit from when I was in." I narrowed my eyes at him, aware that his words were loaded. It would have been a losing fight to ask what that 'shit' was, so I just nodded and kissed him again.

"Be careful. Your Ma wants you to call her, by the way." He nodded and waved to Lauren before heading back out to his bike. I sighed and hoped he wouldn't do something to end up back inside.

"Hey, they're delivering the pool tables today." Lauren said as she handed a clipboard over to me. I looked over the invoice and nodded.

"You left early last night." I said while we walked over to the area we'd been planning on putting the pool tables. She shrugged.

"Yeah, I started feeling sick. He didn't even get home until after two." She sighed and started walking off the measurements of the tables to see if they'd fit length wise. I'd already told her there wouldn't be enough room.

"Happy didn't either. They went off with Bobby and Juice during the reception. You realize we have four tables coming in. If they're turned that way they won't fit." I said, showing her a diagram we'd drawn up previously. She nodded and rubbed her lower back.

"Where'd they go?" I looked over at her and shook my head. She and Chibs had been arguing about her needing to know everything recently. Happy may have just gotten out, but I already knew there were things I couldn't and wouldn't want to know.

"It didn't come up last night." I said with a smirk. I was teasing her with details to get her mind off whatever happened during the reception.

"Oh? What exactly went down when he got home?" She wiggled her brow at me. I laughed and headed behind the bar to start unloading crates of liquor we'd gotten in.

"Do some work and I might tell you." I said with a wink. She rolled her eyes and opened a vodka box.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Juicy, are ya sure this is tha right place?" Chibs asked as Juice turned his bike off. He nodded and repeated the address of the building we were currently parked in front of. The location pissed me off further. I chewed on a toothpick between my teeth and shook my head.

"We're less than a fucking mile from the bar." I growled. I was burning up with the hoodie over my kutte, but we couldn't show colors for this type of job. This was personal.

"Brother, ya need to let Juice go up and see if he's home. He's tha only one that won't scare the neighbors." Chibs tried convincing me one last time. I glanced over at Juice and huffed. Now that his Mohawk had grown out, he just looked like a fucking kid.

"Go." I growled. Chibs nodded at him and Juice hopped off his bike and walked across the lot casually. Jax clapped a hand on my shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. I appreciated his support on this. Tig was pissed we'd left him behind, but we couldn't risk riding in so heavily.

I ran my thumb over the handle of the ka-bar Katerina gave me as a late Christmas present before falling asleep last night. The poetic justice of what I was planning caused a grin to creep up on my face. I was lost in my thoughts and plans of how to make this prick suffer as much as possible.

"Easy killer. That smile would scare tha devil." Chibs said as he tossed a cigarette butte down. I wiped any emotion from my face and nodded over to Juice as he hurried across the lot.

"Brother, you're not gonna like this. Neighbor said he left early this morning. She said he was acting twitchy and excited." Juice spoke quickly as he caught his breath. I narrowed my eyes at him and grabbed my helmet.

"Any chance ya know what he drives so we can look for him?" Jax asked as he flipped his kickstand up.

"A silver Audi." Juice and I spoke at the exact same time. I started the bike and peeled out of the lot.


	15. Google

My brothers caught up quickly as I headed right back to the bar I'd dropped Katerina off at earlier. I recognized Lauren's suv in the lot next to a delivery truck, but there was no sign of the Audi.

I stormed into the bar and looked for Katerina as Juice and Jax checked the perimeter. Chibs followed me in search of our women. He led me back to the office and flung the door open. Sure enough, Katerina was sitting on the floor sorting through papers and Lauren was working at a computer. They both jumped a little at the intrusion.

"Uh, hi?" Lauren asked looking from Katerina to Chibs to me. I shot her a look and crossed the room. I pulled my old lady into my arms and kissed her deeply. She returned the kiss hesitantly.

"Happy, what's wrong?" She asked after pulling away. I took a deep breath and debated on how much to tell her. Juice jogged into the office and announced that it was all clear. Chibs smacked him on the back of the head. I looked back at Katerina and was met with a scowl.

"Your ex drives a silver Audi now. He also lives less than a mile from here. Neighbor said he left early this morning all jumpy and excited." I explained, hoping she wouldn't ask why we'd tracked him down.

"Twitchy, actually. Not jumpy." Juice said with a shrug. Katerina and I both told him to shut up. He blushed and stepped back out in the hall with Jax.

"Happy, the shit you were taking care of was Declan? Are you trying to go back in? Jesus Christ, how stupid are you?" I glared at her and shook my head.

"Get your stuff. We're going home." I growled as she seemed to realize what she'd said. She frowned and shoved past me.

"Don't you hurt her, Happy!" Lauren grabbed my elbow and jerked it so I was forced to look at her. I shook her off and stared at her, wondering how a woman was stupid enough to grab me and try to tell me what to do.

"Chibs, your old lady needs to mind her own business. I'm not in the fucking mood." He nodded and shot Lauren a look as I headed back towards the bar. Katerina was standing by the door with her purse in her hands and tears streaming down her face.

She climbed on behind me and held onto my waist as we headed back home. I could feel her crying against my back and it only made me madder. Katerina jumped off the bike and headed inside before I even cut the engine.

"Kat, do you trust me?" She was sitting on the bed with Harley's huge head in her lap. She looked up at me with red, puffy eyes and nodded slowly. I ran my hand over my face and leaned against the doorframe.

"This is what I do, Katerina. I'm possessive and vindictive. When I was locked up all I could do was fucking sit there while your ex followed you around and showed up that night. Do you know what that's like? For somebody like me to sit in a cell while the woman I love gets fucking attacked by some douchebag?" The anger drained away as I spoke. She started crying again.

"I'm sorry, Happy. I shouldn't have called you stupid. I just don't want you to go back in." She sobbed into Harley's fur and I could barely make out a word she said. Crossing the room felt like walking through quick sand.

"Kat, I'm not going back in. You're not getting rid of me that easy. If you had any idea how many life sentences I should be serving… The point is, I know how to not get caught, baby." I kissed her forehead and felt her flinch a little. Her response surprised me and hurt.

"Why do you and Lauren think I'm going to fucking hurt you? Damnit Kat, I love you." She looked up at me and frowned. I waited for her to calm down and talk to me.

"I love you too. Lauren was on the internet and googled some stuff about your patch." She pointed at the right side of my chest where I wore my Unholy One patch. My eyes closed reflexively as I tried not to get pissed off again.

"Yeah? So google says this means I beat on women or some shit?" I tried to keep the snap out of my voice. Harley whined and nudged me with his head.

"It said that to earn it you have to be ruthless and that it's usually for club enforcers." Her voice was almost a whisper. I shook my head and sent Harley off the bed. Katerina looked up at me as I took my boots and kutte off.

"What about now, Kat? I'm not wearing the kutte, just like in Stockton. I'm the same person I was inside. You can't fucking run scared when my damn skin tells you what kind of person I am." I growled as I pulled my shirt collar down. Her eyes lingered on my tattoo for a minute before she let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry. I know. I just let shit get in my head and I'm just trying to be a good old lady. It's hard." She whispered while she pulled herself into my lap. I wrapped my arms around her and nodded.

"It's new, Katerina. You're doing fine. You're the best old lady I've ever had." I smirked and looked down at her to see a scowl.

"I'm your first old lady, Lowman." Her face relaxed as she laughed a little. I shrugged and nodded.

"So? It's not just new for you, darlin'. Just stop freaking out and googling shit. If you want to know something, ask me. If I don't tell you, it's for your own good." She nodded and pulled my head down so she could reach my mouth. I tasted the salt from her dried tears on her lips and instantly wanted more of her. She pulled back too quickly.

"Are you planning on killing him?" She stared straight into my eyes without blinking. I clinched my jaw and asked myself the same question.

"No, it's not the plan. I can't tell you I won't, but I'm not planning on it. He needs to live in fear for the rest of his pathetic life. Death would be too easy." Her eyes didn't leave me as I spoke. She nodded slowly and kissed me again, shoving my back onto the bed.

"I love you, Happy." I nodded as I pulled her mouth back down to mine. Her hips were grinding against my jeans and I forgot all about her stupid ex. The only thing on my mind was pleasing my old lady.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"God, Happy." I smacked him on the chest after returning from the bathroom with a Band-Aid. He smirked and tried to kiss me as I dodged his mouth. I smacked the bandage into his hand and turned my bare back to him.

"Didn't mean to." He muttered before kissing my shoulder and covering the bite with the bandage. I leaned back against him and couldn't help but smile.

"I know. It doesn't hurt, I just don't want it to get blood on the sheets." I wondered if he was even listening since his hands were exploring my skin. He stopped when I looked back at him.

"It's not even bleeding anymore, woman. I told you to tell me when to stop." He almost looked like he was pouting until I rolled my eyes and nodded. Happy took that as a cue and went back to rubbing his hands over my hips.

Harley's growls made but Happy and I jump. He never barked or growled when he was inside. Happy moved out from behind me and threw me his shirt as he pulled his jeans on. Harley's growling continued as he backed up to the side of the bed, his eyes never leaving the closed bedroom door.

"Stay in here and call Jax." Happy growled as he put one Glock in between his jeans and back and racked the one he held in his hands. I nodded and grabbed my phone quickly. Luckily, Jax and Chibs had their own speed dials.

Happy moved towards the door as silently as a ninja. He looked back at me and waved his hand towards the bathroom. I nodded and hurried over to it as I told Jax what was going on. There was a crash from down the hall and Harley flipped his shit. He was barking and growling loudly as he positioned himself in front of the bathroom door.

Happy opened the bedroom door and disappeared down the hall. The unmistakable sound of a gun going off rang through the air followed by crashes and scuffling. I let go of Harley's collar and watched as he sped out of the room and towards the danger. I crouched down and moved to the bedside table quickly. I grabbed the gun Happy kept in the drawer and flipped the safety off. I heard grunting and something slam into the wall as I moved to the bedroom door.

"I thought I told you to stay in the bedroom." Happy pulled the gun I aimed at his chest out of my hands and turned the safety back on. His skin was broken open over his cheek bone and had blood all over his arms and hands.

"Are you okay?" I brought my hand up to his cheek carefully. He kissed my palm and nodded. I looked around him and saw Harley pattering down the hall calmly.

"Don't, Kat." Happy tried to grab my wrist as I headed towards the living room. The bookshelf had fallen down onto the coffee table and there was a bullet hole in the wall leading to the kitchen. My hand shot up to my mouth as my eyes followed the trail of blood to Declan.

He was propped up on the wall and his eyes met mine as Happy walked up behind me. Declan's arm was bleed profusely from what looked to be a large bite. His face was swollen and bruised. My gag reflexes kicked in as I noticed a disconnected finger sitting on the floor by his bleeding hand.

"Shit." Jax's voice distracted me and I looked away from the finger. He and Tara were standing just inside the front door. Tara moved forward towards Declan and tossed a large canvas bag down on the ground. Jax walked over to join Happy and I as Tara pulled out supplies to keep Declan alive.

As she poured something over Declan's arm and Jax and Happy spoke, I didn't know if I wanted him to live or not. It wasn't the shit he put me through with the wedding or his parents. It wasn't even the fact that he'd hurt me. I looked around the living room and up at Happy's cheek as I clinched my jaw.

Tara moved to get something out of her bag and I made my decision. I reached around Happy's back and grabbed the Glock. I heard Tara yell my name before I unloaded the clip into Declan's chest.

"Katerina!" Tara's scream was barely audible through the ringing in my ears. I put the gun on the bar and pulled out a barstool. All eyes were on me as I sat down and grabbed a cigarette out of the pack Happy kept by his keys.

"Shit." Jax repeated as he ran his hand over his short blonde hair. Tara looked like she was going to be sick as she dropped a roll of gauze back down into her bag. Happy's face was expressionless as he pulled his lighter out and handed it over to me.

"I'll call Miles and Phil. Get this shit cleaned up." Jax said as he pulled out his cell phone and walked into the kitchen. Tara followed him, speechless. I handed Happy his lighter back and inhaled the first smoke I'd had in over eight years.

"Are you right with that?" Happy asked as he reached past me and got a cigarette of his own. I blew a couple smoke rings and nodded my head.

"He came into our house and hurt you. Even if I could look past that shit, he knew where we live. I'm good." I said before taking another puff of the cigarette between my fingers. Happy nodded and blew a line of smoke up towards the ceiling.

"Really? Killing someone was easier than moving?" Tara asked after shutting off the sink faucet. I shrugged and tapped the cigarette on the side of the ashtray.

"Like I said, he came here and hurt Happy. What do you think he would have done if he wouldn't have been home?" I asked calmly. Tara threw her hands up and laughed darkly.

"What if's don't matter, Katerina. He was down and you killed him in cold blood." Her voice got louder and Harley emerged from the hallway. He sat down next to Happy and stared at Tara.

"It's nothing I wouldn't have done myself. I just thought she didn't want me to kill him." Happy said with a shrug as he patted Harley's side. Jax nodded as if to say he had a point and Tara just shook her head.

Happy opened the door just enough for Miles and Phil to get inside. Their eyes widened at the blood and mess in the normally spotless living room.

"What the hell?" Miles asked as Happy tossed him a pair of rubber gloves. I looked from Declan's body to Miles and smirked.

"He dinged my car door with a shopping cart once." Miles eyes shot up to Happy and he started turning green. Jax snorted and Happy laughed. Tara and Phil just looked on in confusion.

"Clean this shit up. Babe, let's head out back and wash the dog." Happy suggested with a smile. I nodded and hopped off the stool to go get the pet shampoo out of the hall closet.


	16. Japanese

**NOTICE: THIS CHAPTER DOES INCLUDE ADULT CONTENT THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR SOME READERS.**

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Is there a reason you cut his finger off?" Katerina was looking at me with an amused grin as I fought to hold Harley still. He was normally a well-trained dog, but you add water and he turned into fucking gremlin.

"He said you two were still going to get married. Cut it off so he couldn't wear a ring. Not really as meaningful now." I said with a laugh. She blushed a little and shampooed the blood off of Harley's muzzle. As I looked at Katerina, I realized she shouldn't be okay with having just killed her ex fiancé. It made me wonder if she was in shock or if there was something I didn't know.

"Who was your first?" I asked once we'd gotten Harley rinsed off. He was laying in her lap as she dried his ears with a towel. The lack of a questioning look told me I'd been right.

"Kiara's boyfriend. It was a couple years ago. She called me and said she and Kevin were coming out to visit me. She sounded excited and I was happy until she walked into my apartment. I could tell something was off and he was too nice to me. We went out to a club without him and I found out he'd gotten pissed and broke her arm at one point. I told her I'd kill him if he ever hurt her again." She took a deep breath and kissed the top of Harley's head before letting him go run around in the yard.

"When we got home, he was pissed she'd gotten drunk and he slugged her. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed him in the chest a few times. I don't think I actually meant to kill him, but he died anyways." I pulled her to me as tears finally started to fall down her face. She sobbed into my chest and I held her tighter.

"I'm a killer, Happy. I don't know what to do." She looked up at me and I felt sick. If she was freaking out this much about killing two people, the conversation we were about to have could be the last one, but I couldn't hide it from her anymore.

"Katerina, you've got to calm down. What are you doing?" I looked back in the house and relaxed a little when I didn't see anyone. She had started stripping off my shirt in front of the door. It suddenly occurred to me that she'd been wearing nothing but my shirt since Declan busted the house up. Luckily, she was short enough that it covered everything.

She pulled on my hand and led me over towards the hot tub. I shook my head and laughed as she threw the top off and climbed in. If we were going to talk about killing people, it might as well be in the hot tub. I tossed my jeans into a chair and joined her in the water.

"You should know I've killed people, Kat." She ran her hand down my arm and nodded.

"How many?" She asked quietly. I looked into her eyes and tried to gauge what her reaction would be.

"Twelve that I did myself. There's more during firefights and shit, but I don't keep track." I said with an honest shrug. Katerina inhaled deeply and took a minute before she nodded.

"Do you think that changes anything, Happy? I kind of figured that's what you by the comment about getting away with stuff. It's too late or I'm too stupid but I love you." As soon as she stopped talking, I yanked her over to me. I glanced down at her before slamming my mouth onto hers and gripping the round, firmness of her ass.

She slid forward and lowered herself onto me. I felt her breath hitch a little as she took more of me in. The way she moaned made me want to never stop fucking her. She knew exactly how to roll her hips so that I didn't always have to do all the work. I normally didn't get to relax and have a woman do the work, but with Kat, she was sometimes rougher than I was and I loved it.

"Babe, I want to try something." She whispered as she slid back up slowly. I nodded as I watched her nipples come back up out of the water. She smirked and pulled all the way off of me.

"Huh? Kat, wait." She had moved forward and I realized what she was doing. She scowled at me and started to move down. I grabbed her hips and held her still as I shook my head.

"Seriously? I thought that you'd want to. That night at my desk." She stopped talking as I dipped a hand down and teased her backdoor with my middle finger.

"Babe, I want to but you wouldn't like it if you took it all at once. You got to work up to it, Kat." I nipped at her neck and slid my finger into her a little. She shifted a little and I smirked.

"If that's your 'I told you so' look, then I suggest you stop." Her voice showed how turned on it had her. Listening to her talk when she was turned on or mad was like being with a completely different person. That accent made me want to shove her back down on to me and deal with her experiment later.

"The fuck?" She jerked away from me and dipped down into the water, covering her chest with her arms. I followed her angry glare and saw Miles standing at the back door from the kitchen.

"Shit, sorry I'll come back later." Miles was backing away as I got out of the hot tub.

"You want to quit fucking staring at my woman?" I growled as I pulled my jeans on. He shook his head and peeled his eyes away from her.

"No, I mean, sorry. I just came to get the car. We finished that other thing and I know her car needs to be fucked, I mean fixed." I grabbed him by the back of the neck and shoved him back inside. He stumbled in and kept backing away from me. My blood was boiling at the idea of what was going through his head.

"You're pissing me off. Like a lot. Unless I call you, don't fucking come back to my house. Her car doesn't look brand new and I'll make sure you never see that top rocker." I slammed the keys into his chest and pushed him towards the door. I'd never seen him move as fast as he did to get out of the house.

"Happy!" Her voice sounded husky and desperate as she called out for me. I huffed and walked back out to the porch. She was already out of the hot tub and stood by the door to the bedroom in my t-shirt again. Harley headed into the kitchen and I closed that door before following Recker into the bedroom.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Baby, please." I whimpered as Happy licked at my clit. I was so worked up from the fingering of my back door and his tongue work that I just wanted him to let me find my release. Instead, he was teasing me and keeping what I wanted out of reach.

"What do you want, Katerina? You want me inside you? You want me to fuck your pussy, baby?" His dark eyes trailed over my body as he pulled up from between my legs. I bit my lip and tried to figure out what I wanted exactly. I just knew I wanted him.

"I thought you wanted to try something else." He growled before biting at my nipple. I moaned as he trailed his tip over my opening without going in. I nodded and tried to steady my breathing as the sharp pricking of his teeth made me want to take control, but I knew he wasn't in the mood for that anymore. This was one of those times that he wanted control.

"If you answer that phone I will shoot you." I growled as his phone started vibrating on the bedside table. He put a hand over my mouth and answered it as I scowled at him. The call was short, but I could tell he was about to leave by the look in his eyes. I sighed and curled my legs up as he closed the phone.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he moved back over me and took his hand off of my mouth.

"You're leaving aren't you?" I scowled as he nodded and laughed. He grabbed my hip and rolled me over.

"I'm not leaving you unsatisfied, woman. Do not tell me to stop unless you can't stand it anymore. Got it?" I nodded and swallowed hard, knowing that it was going to hurt. The best thing about Happy was he wasn't afraid to hurt me just enough and it always felt crazy good.

He pulled his rings off of his right hand and passed them up to me as he slammed into me. I was about to ask why he took his rings off when I felt his fingers slide into the other hole we'd been experimenting with. I moaned and went down onto my forearms as he slowed down a little. I felt him pull out and tried to relax.

"Fuck." I half moan and half screamed as he entered me slowly. He barely went in but it felt like nothing I'd experienced before. It hurt like hell and felt too good at the same time. He paused for a minute before he started moving in and out. Each time he pushed into me, it was a little further than he had before. I felt like my insides were going to explode with a deadly climax.

"God, Kat. You're so fucking wet. You like this, huh?" His voice was even raspier than normal as he fingered me with his left hand and held onto my hip with his right. He thrust in a little harder than he had been and I screamed loudly as I came all around him. I barely registered the groans coming from him as he let himself release as well.

The electricity running through me was incredible. I panted and clawed at the sheets as it finally subsided. Happy was already getting cleaned up once I rolled onto my back and looked over at him.

"Yeah, we're doing that again but you're washing the fucking sheets." Happy said with a satisfied smile. I moved my gaze down to the sheets and realized they'd gotten incredibly wet during what I would call a successful experiment.

"I think I can do that." I said with a laugh as I blushed a little. He nodded as he grabbed a t-shirt from the dresser.

"Yeah, I'm sure. This shouldn't take long. We're going out tonight. Like dinner and shit so just be ready by eight." He said before kissing me goodbye. I nodded sleepily and climbed out of bed to go take a shower.

It had already been an extremely long day. From the fight and sex earlier to the deal with Declan and then a whole different kind of sex and now he wanted to go to dinner in a couple hours? I was almost eight years younger than him but he seemed to have a lot more energy than I did. Lucky for me though, I could take a nap while he went to do whatever outlaw stuff called him away.

"Hello?" I tried to sound awake as I answered the phone. Harley curled up against me, protesting against me getting out of bed. I heard Happy's laugh and knew he'd caught me.

"Get up, woman. I'm on my way." I blushed and ended the call as I hurried out of bed. Harley huffed and watched me closely as I flitted in and out of the closet. As comfortable as I was with Happy, we'd never been on an actual date so I was worried about what to wear.

I figured my car wouldn't be done, so I knew any dress or skirt was out of the question. I finally settled on a pair of black, sequined shorts and a sheer, flowing shirt and a pair of black heels. Lyla's comment on my shoes inspired me to start wearing them more often. After all, Happy was plenty tall enough for me to still be shorter than him in three-inch heels.

I pinned my hair back so it was half up and half down just as the sound of Happy's motorcycle filled the air. I grinned and threw on some lip gloss before heading down the hall. The living room looked strangely empty without the bookshelf, but I tried not to focus on it.

"Damn, Kat. Give me a minute I gotta change jeans." Happy kissed me on the cheek before heading back into the bedroom. He reappeared in darker jeans, a clean white button down and his kutte a minute later. I smiled as we headed out to his bike.

"We're going to dinner but there's a party at the clubhouse later if you want to go." Happy said as he put a helmet on my head carefully. I nodded and gave him a smile. I didn't mind going to parties since Lyla, Lauren and Tara were normally there.

We rode out towards Lodi until we got to an authentic looking Japanese restaurant I hadn't heard of before. Happy walked beside me with his hand on my lower back as we entered the restaurant. The hostess looked from me to Happy and smiled nervously.

Happy and I didn't talk too much during dinner. We were content to just enjoy one another's company rather than make small talk. After a day like today, there wasn't much we could really talk about in public anyway. The waitress dropped the check off and I reached out for it.

"Kat, you're not paying." Happy said as he reached his hand out for the check. I pursed my lips at him but handed it over. He pulled out a wad of cash and paid the bill with a generous tip.

"Where are we going?" I called out over the engine as we turned off of the highway. He headed up into the mountains and ignored my question. I relaxed and enjoyed the ride as the day's heat started giving way to a cool night.

Happy stopped at a pull off overlooking several miles of vineyards. He held out his hand to help me off the bike like a gentleman. I took my helmet off and watched him as he walked out towards the edge of the cliff. I followed him slowly and slid my hand into his. He rubbed his thumb over mine and pulled me close.

"I never wanted an old lady. I always knew that if I had one, I'd lose focus or they couldn't handle what I do. Then you came along and fucked that all up. Now I don't think I could ever focus without you, Katerina." He looked down and me and gave me a small smile. I watched as he took a step away from me and got something out of the inside pocket of his kutte.

"Happy," I started getting nervous as he looked at the envelope in his hand. He passed it over to me and smiled.

"You can tell me where you want it, but I want you to have it." His words made me tear up as I looked down at the detailed drawing of crow with a long ribbon that said: Forever, For Always, and No Matter What. I bit down on my lip and looked up to see him holding his closed hand out to me.

"Marry me, Katerina Recker." Happy turned his hand over and opened it to reveal a beautiful, emerald cut diamond on a rose gold band. I couldn't hold my tears back any longer as I nodded and let him slide the ring on my finger before jumping up into his arms. He laughed as I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him deeply.

"Yes, Happy. Yes to everything." He nodded and kissed me again before setting me down and taking the drawing back from me. He put it back in his kutte carefully before pulling out his phone.

"Ma wanted me to call her as soon as you answered me." He said with a smile as he switched it to speakerphone. I slid underneath his arm and waited for her to pick up.

"Happy? What did she say?" She sounded as if she'd just woken up, but I could tell she was excited. He nodded at me and smirked.

"I said yes, of course!" I heard her squeal in happiness as she clapped. Happy laughed and hugged me to him. Fifteen months ago, if someone would have told me I'd be engaged to a member of the Sons of Anarchy that I'd met working in a prison, I would have had them committed. Now, I couldn't see life any other way.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Do you want to go home or to the clubhouse?" I asked Katerina as she pulled her helmet on. She smiled and kissed me on the neck.

"Clubhouse. If we go home I'll just want to jump on you and I can't for a few more hours at least." She said with a laugh. I nodded and strapped my helmet on.

"A few hours, huh? You're gonna kill me, babe." She smacked my arm in response. I smirked and started the Harley.


	17. Right here?

The party was already in full swing by the time we got there. It was the first Friday party since we all got out, so it was packed with Sons, hang arounds, sweet butts, croweaters and old ladies. I cut the engine and let Katerina climb off before swinging my leg over and getting off the bike. I put our helmets on the seat and then wrapped my arm around my woman's waist.

"Kat!" Lauren rushed over to us and wrapped her arms around Katerina's neck. I dropped my arm from her and gave Chibs a brotherly hug.

"Everything get cleaned up from earlier?" Chibs asked quietly. I nodded and grabbed a beer from one of the croweaters bringing drinks around.

"Yeah, Jax tell you what happened? Fucking soul mate, brother." I smirked as Chibs laughed and nodded. Katerina was showing her ring to Lauren and smiling brightly.

"You inking her?" Chibs asked as he offered me a cigarette. I nodded and accepted the smoke.

"Marrying her too. Anything that makes that woman more mine, I'm doing it." Chibs looked at me with surprise for a minute before giving me a congratulatory hug and slap on the back.

"What about you? She told me your girl's knocked up." I said, nodding towards the two women who were deep in conversation. He brushed his hair out of his face and nodded.

"Aye, she is. She's a good girl. Just don't want to rush shit like I did with Fiona." I saw the hurt in his eyes that normally flashed up when he mentioned his wife. I nodded; hoping I'd never truly understand what that was like.

"Happy, haven't seen you around much since you got back, doll." Kendall, one of the regular sweet butts, ran her hand over my kutte and smiled up at me. I shook my head and grabbed her wrist.

"Leave," I growled, pushing her wrist away. She pouted and headed off to find another Son. I caught Katerina looking at me and smirking as Lauren gestured with her hands about something.

"You giving that shit up?" Chibs asked as we headed over to the garage so I could check on Kat's car.

"Yep." I opened the door and saw the 350Z up on the lift. The bumper was taken off and sitting over in the corner. I nodded and headed back out to the party behind Chibs.

I bent down and kissed Katerina on the neck as Chibs and I headed into the clubhouse. She laughed and tried to smack me as I dodged her. I caught Lauren eyeing me suspiciously.

"Happy, Happy, Happy, you bring that sweet piece of ass with you?" Tig asked with a wink as I walked up to the bar. I shot him a glare and pointed down at my knife.

"Keep talking, Tig." I growled as a croweater brought me some whiskey. He laughed and nodded while Kendall slid her hands down from his shoulder to his chest. She smiled over at me and I knew she was trying to make me jealous.

"Surprised you left the ol' lady outside, killah." Opie said with a smirk as he grabbed a beer for himself and one for Lyla. I looked up at him and downed my whiskey.

"She okay?" I asked as Kendall frowned at the news that I had an ol' lady. Opie laughed and nodded.

"She's fine, brother." Opie smacked a hand on the back of my kutte before heading over to a couch with Lyla. I poured another drink and leaned back in my normal barstool.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"I'm really happy for you, Katerina. It's just kind of fast isn't it?" Lauren and I were sitting on top of a picnic table and watching Juice and Bobby argue about different kinds of weed. I shook my head and put my beer down.

"Not really. We've been together for a long time, he's just been inside. You're having a baby with Chibs and you two haven't been together all that long." I pointed out as she nodded and hitched a shoulder.

"I know, I know. I just want to make sure you're happy, K. He still scares me." She gave me a weak smile and I couldn't help laughing.

"He's intense, Lauren. There's no reason for you to be afraid of him though. You're my best friend and his brother's baby mama. You're double safe." I said with a laugh as her smile grew. I pulled her off her picnic table and headed inside.

"Missing your man?" She asked with a laugh. I nodded and pulled her along faster. If I could walk fast in heels, she could walk fast in flats. She wasn't pregnant enough to be slow yet.

Happy was sitting at the bar by Tig and Chibs. The girl that had pushed up on him outside was now hanging all over Tig. I knew bad boys drew girls in, but some of these girls were ridiculous. Lauren frowned as a redhead walked over and took Chibs' hand. He and Happy seemed so deep into their conversation, that Chibs didn't even notice the girl. I felt Lauren shrink back a little bit and I looked over at her.

"No, Lauren. That's your man. I get that you're in a delicate condition, but you need to put your foot down if he's not. I don't think he even sees her." I said with a shake of my head. Lauren nodded and grabbed my hand, now dragging me along behind her. The beers I'd had started to work together with my heels and make it hard for me to keep up, but Lauren didn't even care.

"Move along, ginger." Lauren had her hands on her hips facing the redhead that had her hands on Chibs' shoulders. She stopped her massage just long enough to smile and ignore Lauren. Chibs waved her off and she yanked her hands back.

"Don't even think about it." I growled as she eyed Happy. She walked up to me and glared down at me.

"Barbie, you need to learn how things work around here." She hissed and reached out towards Happy. I grabbed her arm and yanked her forward, ducking under her arm and twisting it behind her back. I knew if I put much pressure on it, her shoulder would get dislocated.

"It works like this. You touch my man or my girl's man and you'll need to learn to give a hand job with a dislocated shoulder." I whispered into her ear before shoving her away. Happy's arm snaked around my waist and he kissed me on the neck again.

"You're sexy when you get jealous, darlin." Happy nipped at my ear and grabbed a handful of my ass. I grabbed him by his bottom jaw and kissed him hard. He moaned and bit my bottom lip.

"You two are like fucking teenagers." Tig said with a laugh. The girl from outside had moved to his lap and was trailing fingers down his neck. Happy flipped him off and kissed me again. I felt Tig grab my hand and almost jerked back reflexively. He looked from my ring to Happy and then to me with a bright smile.

"I'll be damned, brother. Locking it down with a broad you met locked up. Congrats!" He laughed and shoved the girl off his lap. He clapped Happy on the back and shook his hand before backing up slowly.

"Can I hug you if I promise not to grab your ass?" I rolled my eyes and nodded. He laughed and pulled me into a warm hug. Happy nudged him with his boot after the hug went on a little long. We both laughed and Happy smiled as I moved back to him.

"Might as well tell everybody." Chibs said with a laugh as he pulled Lauren onto his lap. I smiled at the happiness I could read in her eyes. Happy shrugged and stood up from his barstool. I yelped as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. The shorts I was wearing barely covered my ass as it was.

Happy whistled loudly and waited until the music was turned down and everybody had his or her eyes on us. I elbowed him hard on the back. He laughed and put me down gently.

"For everybody that doesn't know, this is Katerina. Earlier tonight, she agreed to marry me and take my crow." Happy said in a slightly louder than normal speaking voice. I knew half of the crowd couldn't hear him. Tig laughed and stood up on the bar.

"Hap's marrying Recker!" Happy smiled and nodded at Tig's much louder announcement and cheers erupted from his brothers and the old ladies. Clay walked up and hugged him tightly with a congratulatory slap on the back. Lyla ran over and flung her arms around my neck.

"Kat! Congratulations!" She screamed before peppering my cheek with kisses. I laughed and hugged her back. We entertained hugs from club and old ladies before sneaking outside with a bottle of Jack and two glasses.

"I want it here." I said, tapping in between my shoulder and my neck. Happy smiled and tugged my shirt down a little.

"Right here?" He asked, kissing just below my collarbone. I giggled at how the stubble on his face tickled me but nodded. He nodded and kissed it again.

"It's going to hurt, but I'll put it there if you're sure." I smiled and kissed him softly.

"I'm sure. I want to be able to see it any time I want, and it's close to my heart." I said as I traced the side of his neck with my nails. He nodded and rubbed a hand over my bare leg. I picked up my vibrating phone and read a message from Kiara. I smiled and texted her back as Happy pulled me onto his lap and read the screen over my shoulder.

"Your sister's coming in?" He asked as he ran his hand around the back of my neck and then down my shoulder. I nodded and groped his thigh.

"Happy, I want you." I pouted as the feel of his skin turned me on. He laughed and moved his hand up to my chin.

"How did you survive when I was locked up, baby?" His raspy voice did nothing to calm my desire to get his clothes off. I shrugged and reached my hand back and wrapped it around the back of his neck.

"Batteries and thinking about you." I whispered honestly. He laughed and turned me around to face him. I looked up as I saw Happy's brothers hurrying out of the clubhouse.

"Hap, we gotta go." Clay announced as I went ahead and hopped out of his lap. He sighed and kissed me quickly.

"Here, this is to my dorm. Second door on the left. Get some sleep, Kat." He kissed me again as he pulled his helmet off and handed me mine to take inside. I gave him a little smile and nodded before heading inside.

"Girl's night?" I asked Lauren as I wrapped my arm through hers. She laughed and nodded. I looked over at Lyla and Tara who shook their heads.

"Sorry ladies, we've got little ones at home." Tara said as she gave me a hug. I shrugged and nodded before hugging Lyla as well. Lauren and I headed over to the pool table as the party thinned out quickly.

"Did you know Chibs is married?" Lauren asked as I racked the pool balls. I dropped a ball on my foot and cussed loudly.

"What? No, I didn't know that. Did you?" I asked incredulously. She nodded and laughed a little. We abandoned the pool table and headed over to a couch to talk about Chibs and the family I knew nothing about. I ended up falling asleep on the couch across from Lauren before we even made it back to the dorms.


	18. Smoke and Ink

I was tired and aggravated that we had to deal with Russians again. Walking into the clubhouse and seeing Katerina passed out on the couch didn't really help much. She didn't even wake up when I carried her back to the bed, so I'd have to wait to talk to her about being smart in the clubhouse. I trusted all of my brothers but some of the hang arounds hadn't earned my trust yet, especially not when it came to what was mine.

"Happy, you smell good." Katerina mumbled as I climbed into the bed after my shower. I couldn't stay mad at her when she did stuff like that. She pulled herself onto my chest and wrapped her leg over mine. Luckily, I could normally sleep in any position. I kissed her forehead and leaned my head back to get what little sleep I could.

I woke up with a start. There was yelling coming from down the hall and it didn't sound good. Katerina sat up in alarm as I pulled a pair of jeans on and hurried out of the room. She was right on my heels in one of my shirts and her shorts from last night. I shielded her as the new local Sheriff swung an axe into a wall by the chapel.

"The fuck? We've got women in here, asshole." The sheriff stopped just long enough to look from me to Katerina. He laughed and smiled.

"Fire safety, Lowman. I smelled smoke. Don't want any of your women getting hurt." He said before smashing the wall with the axe again. I went to take the axe from him when Katerina grabbed my wrist and Clay shook his head.

"He's just having a pissing contest." Clay growled as the mugshots hanging on the wall just behind Kat and I were ripped down and thrown in the floor. She jumped and moved to stand in front of me.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?" Katerina backed into me as Wright smiled and pulled a fireman helmet off. I didn't like the way he was staring at her bare legs.

"Never thought being a volunteer firemen would give me this interesting of an off day. Turned into a biker whore, Recker? That's pathetic." He swung an axe into the chapel door and smiled darkly at me.

"I should have known something was going on." He struck the door again and kicked it open. I whispered for Katerina to head out to the bike. She was moving out of my arms when the sheriff clicked his tongue.

"Sorry, miss. Nobody leaves until the inspection is over." He said with a bright smile. She narrowed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest.

"Funny, you say you smell smoke but you're keeping people in the building." She snapped as she walked back over to me. She grimaced and inhaled sharply. I moved over to her and saw a piece of glass sticking out of her foot.

"Here, I'm a trained medic." Wright said as he reached out for Katerina. I stepped in front of her and unbuckled the sheath holding my knife.

"Don't fucking think about touching her, dick." I growled as he walked up to me. He seemed to think he was something else with the axe in his hand. I stood my ground and stared down at him as Chibs tended to Katerina's bleeding foot.

"You think you're untouchable, Lowman. Go ahead and hit me. Oh, that's right. You're on parole. You've got what, two strikes now? I'm sure your whore would hate if you got that third strike. She'd have to move on to one of your brothers I guess. Isn't that how your club women work?" My knuckles were white as I gripped the handle of my knife. He knew I couldn't hit him, especially with cops there. Any other scenario where someone disrespected my club and my woman, I'd kill them without hesitation.

"Happy, let them tear shit up like children. Let's go back to bed." The feel of her nails on my back pulled my attention away from Wright. I nodded and kissed her on the top of the head.

"Don't want you getting cut up and having to sue these assholes." I growled as I picked her up in my arms. I smirked at the jealous look Wright had plastered on his face and carried Katerina back to my dorm.

Katerina raked her nails down my neck and pulled me down onto the bed with her. When she brought it up, I had thought she was kidding about going back to bed. Her actions said otherwise. She moaned into my mouth as I squeezed her ass.

"Happy, can you do my crow today?" Katerina smiled up at me as she pulled her underwear back on. I looked over her warm gold skin and nodded. She bounced down onto the bed and kissed my chest.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Ow," I hissed and tried not to flinch as Happy started shading the crow's feathers. About halfway through the outline of the tattoo, I realized why he said getting it on my collarbone would hurt. Before he ever put the needles to my skin, he'd tried to convince me to at least move it a little further down towards my boob. I refused, so now my skin and bone felt like it was on fire from the pricking and scraping of the needles.

"Kat, I'm almost done. Stop twitching." Happy growled as he rolled his toothpick across his lips. I took a deep breath and tried to still my twitching. After another five or ten minutes, he was done. I breathed a sigh of relief as he wiped it off with some ointment.

"It's official, Katerina." He smiled and kissed my cheek before letting me up to go look in the mirror. I hopped up quickly and rushed to the bathroom. Tears started swelling up as I looked at the intricate details in the feathers and letters. The pain was a distant memory now that I saw the finished product.

"Happy, I love this. I love you." I turned around and kissed Happy's smiling mouth. He wrapped his arms around my waist and ran his fingers through my hair.

"I love you too, Katerina. Don't forget that." I nodded and kissed his bare chest. There was a knock at the door and he pulled away slowly. I pushed the door to so whoever was at the door wouldn't see me standing in my underwear and bra.

"Is Katerina in here?" I could hear Lauren's tears in her voice and threw the door open. Happy looked uncomfortable as Laruen rushed over to me and sobbed into my hair. I gave him a little nod and he headed out of the dorm, carrying a shirt and his kutte with him.

"Lauren, what's wrong? Watch the ink, babe." She pulled back a little and nodded. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and eyeliner and mascara were all down her cheeks. I pulled her over to the bed and tossed the quilt over it before sitting down and pulling her with me.

"I'm sorry, K. Chibs and I got into a fight. Ever since the guys got out of Stockton he's never around. I thought that when they got out he'd have more time for us. Happy's always with you." She huffed and brushed her tears away roughly. I sighed and shook my head.

"Lauren, he and Happy are gone on the same runs and it's only been a couple days. What's really bothering you?" I narrowed my eyes, urging her to be honest. She sighed and shook her head.

"It's just, he can't marry me. I didn't care before, but now you and Happy are engaged and I guess it made me realize I want that. What's wrong with me?" She sobbed again and let out a shuttering breath. I frowned and shook my head.

"Lauren, you're pregnant and hormonal. You and Chibs are having a baby!" She gave me a weak smile and nodded as she rubbed her palm over her stomach.

"I'm going to be fat at the wedding." She laughed and I saw the light coming back into her eyes. I shrugged and shook my head.

"We haven't even talked about a date. I don't even know if I want a wedding anymore. We may just have something small here." I really didn't see Happy ever wanting a wedding and after all of the plans that fell through with Declan, I was a little hesitant to start the process again.

"Did you know Wright is outside the clubhouse?" She asked, changing the subject as she splashed water over her face. I shrugged.

"Yeah, he's with the sheriffs tearing the damn place apart." I shook my head, disgusted at the intrusion and disrespect the club got from the local sheriff. Lauren raised her brow at me and pursed her lips.

"Uh, they're gone, K. He pulled up behind Chibs and I." At her words, I shot up and grabbed one of Happy's tanks and a pair of gym shorts. Lauren asked me what was going on, but I was in too much of a hurry to stop and explain.

"Happy!" I skidded to a halt as he looked up from the bar. He was sitting there with Chibs and Juice. He put his beer down and raised his brow.

"Katerina?" I sighed and shook my head, relieved that he wasn't covered in Wright's blood. I bit my lip and wondered if I should tell him about Lauren seeing Wright outside.

"We're going to the house and then to the bar." I said quickly. He looked at me for a second, trying to decide what I was hiding and then nodded.

"Don't wear a tight shirt." He said while he pulled me in for a kiss. I nodded and kissed him quickly, hoping he didn't realize how nervous I was. Lauren gave him a small smile before kissing Chibs on the cheek and pulling me out of the clubhouse.

"What the hell is going on?" Lauren asked as we got into her car. I sighed and turned around in the seat, looking for Wright's car. To my relief, the only cars on the lot were Laruen's and Gemma's. I buckled the seat belt and pushed the shoulder strap under my arm.

"If Wright shows his face around here again, Hap will kill him." Of that, I had no doubt. The only thing I wasn't sure about was rather Wright would be dumb enough to set foot in Happy's sight again.

Laruen pulled into the driveway and shut the car off. We didn't say much on the way over and I was still running through different scenarios in my mind. Harley greeted us both with huge kisses.

"I love this house. Didn't you have a bookshelf here?" She pointed at the wall and raised her brow. I nodded and kept walking back to the bedroom. I loved Lauren and trusted her with my life, but Happy made it clear that I couldn't tell her about what happened with Declan. The fewer people that knew about it, the better.


	19. Against a wall

"Holy shit! I didn't even notice your crow!" Lauren bounced over to the edge of the bed I'd just stripped of sheets and pulled me to her by my hand. I stood in front of her in my bra and jeans as she looked over my fresh ink with a smile. I was happy to show it off for what it stood for even more than the artistic perfection of the lines and smooth shading.

"Wait, aren't the hearts usually red?" I smirked and nodded as she finally let me get back to finding a suitable shirt to wear to the bar. I usually wore a tank top, but the straps would irritate my skin, so I settled on one of Happy's t-shirts instead. I smirked as I glanced down and saw how small it made me feel.

"The day after I went to try on my dress, I told Happy about the whole color controversy. He remembered and made the heart blue for my mom." I bit down on my lip to keep my own happy tears from falling as Laruen's eyes wet her cheeks. I nodded and went into the bathroom to pull my hair up.

"Let's bring Harley." Lauren said as she paused in the way of my efforts to close the door. I shrugged and called for my seemingly sweet dog as I grabbed his leash off the hook by the door. The plan was to go to the bar only, but I didn't want to risk being caught out without his leash. He behaved well for a young dog, but his looks alone made people uneasy.

Harley was exploring the bar as Laruen and I went over invoices and applications at the bar. It made me anxious to deal with hiring employees, but Laruen insisted that I have a bigger presence in this bar, especially since it was new. I shook my head and put a resume down, the girl was applying for a bartend position without any prior experience or knowledge of any alcohol besides the beer she sold at a grocery store. Lauren slid a resume with an attached picture over to me and raised her brow.

"He seems like a pretty good option for a bouncer, what do you think?" I looked at the picture of a beefy guy with a cropped, military like haircut. I twisted my mouth and shrugged.

"I mean, he's big but his eyes look too friendly. Imagine him going up against a customer like Happy." I laughed and shook my head as I turned the resume face down. Lauren's growing smile made me wonder what was going through her head. We went back to looking through resumes until we'd reached the bottom of the pile. I had several potential waitresses but no bartended. Lauren had a small stack of bouncer prospects. I passed my stack to her and waited for her small stack.

"Nope, you're too sensitized to tattooed bikers that have coals for eyes. Do you think he would mind sitting in on the interviews for the bouncers?" I almost choked on my tea as she asked me. I couldn't really picture Happy taking a place on an interview panel.

"He'd scare them all away." I said with a laugh that was cut short by Lauren's smiling nod. I sighed and caught on to her train of thought. The best way to test a bouncer is to test his reaction to a serious threat. Only, on that same note, I didn't know if I wanted to hire anyone that wasn't afraid of my man.

"Get with him and see when would be a good time and then I'll call the potentials." I nodded and pulled out my phone to text him quickly. We were getting too close to opening to put it off too much longer.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Damn woman." I growled as I read the text she'd sent me about helping weed out weak bouncer applicants. On one hand, I was busy enough with the club meeting with some new Mayan connections; but, on the other hand, it might make me less anxious about her working if I help choose the guys watching her and Lauren's backs. I knew that bouncers were usually there to keep the general peace with customers, but Katerina's safety was my only concern, and possibly Lauren's since she was having Chibs' kid.

"Everything okay?" Chibs was well into his bottle of Jameson, but I could tell he was worried about Lauren. I was curious to know what her fit was about earlier, but I respected their privacy. I nodded and sent Katerina a quick text before closing my phone.

"Katerina wants me to be there when they interview bouncers. She said if I scare them she doesn't want them around." I shrugged and watched as Chibs' expression hardened a little.

"Juice 'n' I are coming with. He needs ta run background checks anyway." I nodded and turned to watch the croweaters and prospects cleaning up the sheriff's redecorating efforts. It was obvious that the prospects were just getting in the bitches' way, but it was funny to watch them crash into one another.

"We're doing that on Monday before we meet with Alvarez's partners." Chibs nodded and I headed off towards my dorm with a fresh beer. I was turning my key in the lock when I felt someone standing behind me.

"You lost?" I asked the sloppy, blonde croweater giving me her best, 'fuck me now' eyes. She ran her hand up my arm and the only thing I felt moving inside me was the bile up to my throat. After being with Katerina, I saw the croweaters in a whole different way. There were a couple that might make good old ladies for prospects down the road, but the ones that had been around for a while looked used up and tried to hard. Tig and Koz never really seemed to mind how wrecked a croweater was as long as they had lips or a vagina. I don't think having both was a must.

"Thought you looked like you could use some company, doll. How about a massage?" She moved to squeeze my shoulders until she noticed the look I was giving her. I didn't know if I looked more disgusted or pissed off, but she left all the same. Someone needed to reeducate these damn women about what their status was in the clubhouse. I shouldn't have to do more than look at them once for them to know if I'm wanting their services or not.

I grabbed the leash I'd had made for the dog off the dresser and closed the door quickly behind me. Jimmy at the leather shop down on Main Street outdid himself with the SOA collar and leash he'd made for me. The leather was black and the stamped letters were painted in silver. Harley was almost too big for his other collar and he fucking deserved to wear reaper gear after the work he did with Declan.

"You'd think that whore's pussy was made out of gold. What's her name anyway?" I paused in the shadow of the hallway, my blood already boiling at the croweater's words.

"Uh, Kat a something?" Another croweater questioned the blonde that had followed me to my dorm. I shoved Harley's leather in my back pocket and walked up behind the stupid bitches.

"Katerina?" I supplied for the younger blonde who didn't have enough brain matter to pronounce my old lady's name. Her eyes shot up to mine and my predator nature allowed me to notice her start trembling a little. The worn out slut she'd been talking to turned and looked at me.

"Happy, I just don't want you to be missing out. Variety is the best part of life. Since when do you stick to one plain looking tart?" My blood was pounding in my ears as I grabbed the stupid bitch by her throat. Her eyes widened in panic as I slammed her back against the wall. She was kicking her feet, looking for some way to connect her heels with the floor.

"Katerina is my ol' lady, cunt. You so much as sneeze at her again and I'll make sure you disappear. Got it?" I lowered my yelling to a growl as her eyes started to dim into unconsciousness. She nodded weakly and I yanked my hand away, dropping her a couple inches to the floor. She was coughing and crying while I stormed out of the clubhouse.

It wasn't how the club worked, and I knew it. Even the Sons with ol' ladies routinely took part in fucking or getting head from croweaters or sweet butts. Some ol' ladies set some rules about what could and couldn't happen on the road or in town, but it wasn't something I was interested in. I didn't claim to be an expert in relationships or ol' ladies, but I was inherently loyal. No matter what liberties Katerina ever planned on allowing me, I wasn't going to mess around on her. She was the only one I even wanted to look at.

"Happy!" I heard Gemma calling out to me from back towards the clubhouse. I stopped and turned to face her, mere feet away from the garage, respecting Gemma's position as the reigning queen and Clay's ol' lady.

"You realize that girl in there has been around here for over three years?" The bitchy look she was giving me made my blood temperature increase again. I nodded, well aware that she'd been around for a while, hence her being wasted up.

"Try to use some of that killer self control next time, Happy. They're going to talk and you can't choke them out whenever you're not in the mood." I felt my eyes narrow at her words. I inhaled, buying time to choose my words carefully.

"Mood's got nothing to do with it. I suggest they learn their place before I have to remind them again." I did my best to keep the growl out of my voice, but it came through towards the end. Gemma's eyes widened and she turned on her heel, marching back to the clubhouse and allowing me to get into the garage like I'd originally planned.

The more I turned the wrench on a particularly difficult bolt underneath a Pontiac, the more I relaxed. Aside from the open road and Katerina, working with my hands calmed me the most. Working out either calmed me down or pumped me up and I couldn't risk the latter at the present moment.

I heard our dog barking before I even realized Lauren's car had pulled back into the lot. I looked around the hood and noticed Tig was holding a ball for him to play fetch with. As soon as Katerina opened the car door, Harley flew out of the backseat and started bouncing side to side as Tig teased to throw the ball.

"Happy!" Katerina yelped in surprise as I picked her up from behind and buried my face in her neck. She brought her shoulder up, trying desperately to stop my day old scruff from tickling her skin. I inhaled the scent of her shampoo and our laundry detergent before putting her down.

"You get anything done?" I laughed as she nodded her head as if my question had offended her. Harley brought me the tennis ball and sat patiently for me to throw it. I bounced it off the ground and watched as all one-hundred plus pounds of him jumped up and caught it in his mouth. Katerina laughed and scratched his sides affectionately.

"What about you?" I was about to shrug when Tig laughed loudly as he walked up to Katerina and I. I shot him a threatening look, but he ignored it in true Tig fashion.

"He educated some croweaters on proper etiquette and the importance of oxygen." Tig said as he dodged my glare and stood by my future wife for protection. She narrowed her eyes at me and I just wanted to hit my brother that much harder.

"I'm not sure how to take that. What'd you do, Hap?" Her eyes were still piercing into mine, but she was also losing a fight with the smile threatening her lips.

"Bitch talked shit and got put up against a wall." I shrugged and hoped my ol' lady wasn't going to pick now to be a feminist. She looked over at Tig and pursed her lips.

"What'd she say and is she hurt?" Her voice was flat and she waited with a tennis ball in one hand on her other hand resting on her hip.

"Not permanently. She had some jealousy issues and killa here didn't take to well to you being called a whore." Tig was obviously worried my woman was going to shoot the messenger. Her eyes were dark as she turned back to look at me.

"You just earned yourself some head later, Happy." I couldn't stop the smile on my face as Tig's jaw dropped. He was obviously disappointed he hadn't succeeded in landing me in the doghouse. I kissed her roughly and tugged on her bottom lip with my teeth. Harley whimpered and Katerina pulled back as she hurled the ball towards the clubhouse. We watched with amusement as he used the occupied picnic table as a springboard to get his tennis ball back as quickly as possible.

"Got this made for the beast." I pulled the collar and leash out of my pocket and passed it over to a smiling Katerina. She looked them over and nodded with a satisfied grin. Neither one of us really wanted kids, so Harley was the closest thing we had. I personally found him a lot easier to get along with.

"Katerina, I finished your car." Miles thrust the keys out to my old lady as she looked at him suspiciously. I'd been so pissed off earlier, I'd forgotten to check on her precious sports car. She took the keys and handed the leash and collar back to me. I knew she could handle Miles, so I called Harley over and switched his collar out. Somehow, the wide collar made his neck look even bigger. His ears perked up at the sound of Katerina's exhaust system.

She backed it out of the garage and stopped in the middle of the lot before shutting the engine off and getting out to inspect the repairs. Harley took the open door as an invitation and jumped into the car, taking his normal seat over on the passenger side. Miles was still breathing as I walked over, so I figured it had to be mostly fixed.

"Looks good." She said with a curt nod. She stood up and ran her hand over the hood of the car. The look in her eyes made me want to bend her over the hood right there in the lot.

I followed Katerina and Harley home, even though I had to be back at church by ten. Riding my bike was something I enjoyed, so I didn't mind the back and forth, especially when my lady was promising me head.

She didn't even wait until the door closed behind me before moaning softly in my ear and kissing the base of my neck, right above the leather of my kutte. I growled and rolled my head as she pulled my kutte off and put it on the back of the couch carefully.

"Happy, I appreciate you defending me, but let me handle those skanks. They'll never respect me if I don't hold my own." Katerina was looking up at me from her knees. I wanted to argue, but the way she ran her thumb over my head had me nod in agreement instead. Any thoughts of croweaters or the club dashed out of my mind as she took me in her mouth.

"That's it, baby. It's all yours." I moaned as she managed to fit my whole cock in her mouth and roll her tongue over my shaft. Her fingers were digging into my upper thighs as she swallowed and sucked me over and over. I wound my fingers through her hair but let her do her own thing while I just enjoyed the silkiness of her blonde hair. After a few minutes of award worthy head, I spilled into her mouth with shutters running through my body.

She licked me clean and dried me off with a towel before standing on her toes and kissing me deeply. I reached down to move my hand under her jeans, but I head the sound of my phone vibrating against the back of the couch. She smiled and kissed my cheek before heading into the kitchen and I answered my phone.

"What?" I barked, annoyed that anyone was calling so close to having church anyways. I recognized Juice's breathing before he even said a word.

"Brother, meet got moved up. We gotta be there in thirty." I acknowledged him with a grunt and snapped the phone shut. Katerina looked up at me and smiled.

"Be careful, Hap. I'll be asleep when you get home." She kissed me and wrapped her hand around the back of my neck before pulling back. I scratched Harley behind the ears and nodded them both a goodbye before heading out to my bike. If I had known having an ol' lady would be like this, I may have considered it a long time ago.

I laughed as I strapped my helmet on and shook my head. It would never have worked with anyone but Katerina. As crazy as it sounds, I was glad I'd served over a year in prison and had three more years of parole. Every fucked up thing that led me to that cell had led me to Recker. I smirked, realizing I was starting to sound like Ma. She always preached that everything happened for a reason.

**I apologize so much for any grammatical errors in this chapter. I was so inspired and liked this fluffy chapter so much that I had to share it with you all as soon as possible! Some things to look forward to: visiting Ma, the interviews, and maybe some news about the wedding?**


	20. Questions

"Are you sure I look okay, Happy?" I twisted around and looked at my butt in the mirror and then moved my eyes up to him. It was obvious that he was growing less amused and more aggravated. I closed the closet door before he even had the chance to answer yes, again.

"You act like you ain't ever met my Ma before, Kat. She saw you with a black eye, I'm sure she won't mind you wearing jeans and the sixth shirt you've tried on. This one shows off your crow though. I like it." He kissed my chest and smiled up at me. I looked down and had to agree. This shirt was off the shoulder and it did in fact have my crow on full display. I cupped his freshly shaven face in my hands and kissed his lips softly.

"No kissing on the bed or you won't get me off it." He growled, picking me up by my thighs and putting me down a few feet closer to the door. I stopped and rubbed Harley's cheeks as we headed to the door. Tig was dog sitting today and had already texted me a whole schedule of what he had planned. It was sad that he put more effort into planning a date with our dog than with any woman.

Happy held his hand out for my keys as soon as he closed the front door. I snarled and turned my head away as I dangled them just inside his reach. He scoffed and I caught him shaking his head after I'd yet again relinquished the control of my car to someone else. Luckily, I trusted Happy's ability to drive more than anyone else and he was too used to his sex privileges to fuck my car up.

"Do you want kids, Kat?" We'd been on the road for about an hour in mostly silence, save the radio that was playing classic rock. I snapped my head around and noticed he was in full concentration, even his toothpick wasn't moving.

"Hap, why are you asking me?" He cut his eyes over at me and scowled.

"Cause I want you to fucking answer, not ask me another question. I'll give you whatever you want, Katerina. If you want fucking kids we can pull over and I'll fuck you on the side of the rode and we can have one nine months from now." Happy's grip on my steering wheel loosened as his voice softened. I peeled one of his hands off and held it in my own.

"Right now, no. I don't see myself ever wanting kids. If that ever changes then you'll be the first to know." I felt him relax as he nodded. I smirked and took a chance at poking the bear. "Besides, your fantasy of fucking me on the side of the road wouldn't get me a kid. The shot doesn't work that way."

"Smartass. Ma will probably ask about it. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't blindsided." He smirked as I smacked him on the shoulder. I loved when Happy and I were alone. It was the only time he would really relax and joke around.

"What?" He had caught me biting my lip and watching his muscles move as he drove the car. He moved from glancing at me to turning his head from the road and staring at me, forcing me to answer for the safety of my car.

"I want you to fuck me on the side of the road now." I smiled and bat my eyelashes at him. He hung his head in amusement and laughed.

"I will on the way back. That way it's dark and perverts can't watch." He kissed my hand and grinned at me.

"Oh, I didn't know Tig was following us." I turned around in my seat and pretended to look for Tig's bike. Happy chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, that's the type I'm talking about." I nodded proudly since we were on the same wavelength, although it was a little dark and disturbing. I pulled my sunglasses down over my eyes and leaned my head back for the rest of the ride. I'd planned on being asleep when he got in last night, but he and that mouth of his had other plans that delightfully woke me up.

I woke to the sound of my car scraping on his ma's driveway. It was unavoidable and didn't hurt anything, but I still couldn't take the noise. He flipped the mirror down and looked in to it for a minute, sending me into a frenzy of laughter.

"You got a hair out of place back there." I choked out as he slammed the visor back up towards the roof. He did his best to keep a straight face.

"That fucking mouth of yours, woman. I swear." On his swear, his face cracked into a smile and I could see the laughter in his eyes. I went to reach for the door handle and he shook his head, so instead I waited impatiently for him to get out and revive the lost art of chivalry, right after talking about my fucking mouth.

"Happy! Oh, my boy is finally home!" Ma wrapped her arms around Happy and I felt the need to look away and give these two some privacy. She kept a hold of him for a solid three minutes before pushing him back to arms length and looking him over.

"Katerina, you've done a good job of keeping him healthy. He always said how the food in that prison was so awful." She hugged me tightly and pecked both of my cheeks before ushering us inside. Happy walked beside me with his hand resting gently on my lower back.

"Sit, sit! Where's my furry grandson?" She smiled brightly as we sat down on the couch across from her rocker. Happy laughed and shook his head.

"Too big for a two seater car, Ma. How are you feeling?" He pulled my hand over to his thigh, rubbing small, slow circles with his thumb. I could feel his mother watching our actions as she smiled.

"You know he shaves his head because of all the gray hairs he gets from worrying." She gave me a wink and I utterly failed at suppressing a smile. I had seen his hair grow out a little in Stockton, and it did in fact have quite a bit of gray. He scowled and shook his head.

"Ma, I told you not to cook. We could have gone out somewhere." I sucked my bottom lip and snickered as she motioned towards her hair. Happy pinched my side in the ticklish spot.

"You two keep laughing it up." He was smiling even though he was obviously pouting. His ma stood up and walked over to me.

"This is beautiful, kids. Forever, For Always, and No Matter What. I love it. Why a blue heart?" She looked over at Happy and I nudged him, having already told Lauren the story, it was Happy's turn now. Even though he was short and to the point, his Ma's eyes welled with tears at the romantic gesture. Happy pulled me closer and planted a kiss in my hair.

"I never thought my Happy would get married. When he called me to tell me of his plans, I thought I had already crossed over into the light." Maria gave us both kisses and patted my ring gently before moving back to her rocker. I learned she had in fact helped him pick the ring out.

I felt my phone vibrate between our legs and frowned in confusion as Happy and his ma talked about his aunt and her latest date. I checked my phone quickly; making sure it wasn't anything urgent from Lauren. It was far from important. Happy glanced down after I nudged him gently with the phone.

"Stupid prick." Happy growled as he handed the phone back to me. Wright had sent me a message, asking if I was trying to make him jealous. I tucked the phone back in my pocket, refusing to warrant the message with a response.

We ate a wonderful meal of Carne Asada, which Maria paired with a wonderful white wine for the two of us and I watched Happy drink a Dos Equis beer for the first time. I felt at home with Happy and Maria, so I hoped we would start making a habit of weekly dinners. I insisted that she teach me some recipes and let me help next time.

"Ma, you seem tired." Happy said after we'd caught her yawning at least half a dozen times within the last few minutes. She had a sheepish smile as she nodded and rose from her rocker. Happy pulled her in to a hug and kissed her on the cheek before stepping back and letting me tell her goodbye.

"Keep him in line, niña. You have to call me as soon as you two set a date." I promised her and gave her a hug and kiss before Happy and I headed out to the car. He paused at the door to make sure she locked it securely before getting in the car.

"Hap, I don't want a big wedding. I really just want it to be family and us. No croweaters and no gangs of every color." I said with a smile as I remembered how many people came to Opie and Lyla's wedding. He nodded and traced my palm with his thumb.

"Sounds good. The fewer people there, the less I have to watch." He rested against the headrest and yawned, immediately causing me to do the same.

"Side of the road sex can wait, Hap. We're both exhausted." I tried to stifle another yawn as he nodded. He picked up the speed in order to get us back home to Harley and our bed.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Hey Happy!" Lauren smiled as she opened the door to the bar. She peered around me and caught sight of Juice and Chibs. I'd forgotten to tell Katerina they were coming.

"Ya could have asked me, Lauren." Juice and I shared a look before picking up the pace to give Chibs and his old lady some privacy. He'd been irritated about Lauren not asking for his help all morning.

Katerina showed up from the back of the bar and greeted me with a kiss. Her lips tasted like strawberries. I tried to pull my eyes away from her cleavage and used Juice as a distraction.

"Juice is doing background checks before you hire anybody." Katerina's eyes widened a little but she nodded and smiled as she gave Juice a hug. He grinned brightly as she thanked him. I rolled my eyes at his enthusiasm, but I trusted them both.

"The first guy is supposed to be here in fifteen minutes. We're doing the interviews out here so they don't know the whole layout unless they're hired." Katerina said as she led Juice and I over to the new lounge areas that had been set up. I glanced back and saw that Chibs and Lauren were still fighting.

"Were you always paranoid or is it Hap's fault?" Juice asked with a laugh as he set his computer stuff up on the bar. Katerina laughed and shook her head as she handed him copies of the applicant's resumes.

"I'm just being careful. I won't be here as much as Lauren and I don't want her in danger." She glanced past me to see the ongoing argument and frowned.

"Should have made her ask him, Kat." She nodded and pursed her lips as the two expecting parents made their way over. Chibs wasn't red and Lauren wasn't crying, so they must have settled their shit.

"Okay, so I guess you can sit between Happy and Chibs and I'll sit on the end." Katerina shrugged at Lauren's direction and shoved me towards the seat. I pushed her back gently before sitting down. I strummed my thumbs on the table and laughed.

"What?" Lauren spat as Katerina sat down next to me. I cocked a brow at her attitude.

"Never interviewed somebody without drawing blood." Lauren's eyes widened and Katerina snapped her head around and glared at me. Chibs and Juice laughed. I hitched my shoulder and smirked at Katerina. I tensed at the sound of someone knocking on the door. Lauren stood up to go get the door, but Juice beat her to it. We weren't wearing kuttes, but the girl walking inside still looked a little scared by Juice.

"I'm sorry, I know I'm early. I'm Casey." She smiled a little and shook Lauren's hand. I leaned back and started wondering why I'd agreed to this shit.

"Hi, Casey. I'm Lauren, we spoke on the phone yesterday. That's Katerina. You can go ahead and take a seat, doll." The young girl nodded and sat down across from Katerina. After a few minutes of questions, Katerina finally nodded and smiled. Lauren let the girl know they would call her in a few days and walked her to the door.

"I don't like her." Katerina said when Lauren walked back to us. Her friend narrowed her eyes a little and shook her head in disbelief.

"K, she's got five years of experience and can always be a backup bartender. Why don't you like her?" Lauren stared at Katerina and waited for an answer as Juice went to get the door.

"She was eye fucking Happy. I'm not dealing with croweaters here." She growled as Lauren rolled her eyes. Chibs smirked at Kat's possessiveness as Juice arrived with the first bouncer applicant. I didn't even let Lauren introduce herself.

"You're late." I growled without actually knowing what time it was. The guy looked down at his watch and back at me.

"Right on time, brother. I'm Robby." He shook Lauren's hand and smiled. I grinded my teeth into my toothpick and stared at him.

"Thanks for coming in, Robby. I'm Lauren and that's Katerina. You can take a seat. What type of experience do you have, Robby?" Lauren asked as the prick sat down. He grinned and put his elbows up on the table.

"I was a bouncer up at a bar in Lodi for about a year. The owners were happy because whenever I was there, people didn't cause trouble. They walked in and saw me and thought better of it I guess." He laughed at his own joke and I wanted to strangle him. Katerina nodded and leaned forward.

"Do you have any fighting experience or training? Boxing, MMA, wrestling?" The guy nodded and pointed at Katerina.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. You'd be safe with me." He winked and Katerina leaned back, putting her hand on my knee. She must have known I was planning on stabbing him in the same fucking eye he winked at her with.

"Aye, but ya didn't answer tha lady." Chibs pointed out, tapping his rings on the table impatiently. Robby's smile faded and he looked over at Katerina again.

"I'm not trained like that, but I'm a big guy. I know how to take care of trouble makers." He glanced over at me and I raised my brow. Katerina nodded and I leaned forward.

"You ready to bet on that?" I stood up and waved my fingers for him to stand up and come at me. He looked from me to Lauren and swallowed.

"Seriously? This is a bar, not a fight club." Robby's voice went up a little and I laughed.

"No, Kat." She nodded at me and hitched a shoulder. Juice hopped down from the bar.

"We'll be in touch, Robby. We have a few more interviews and then we'll make our calls." Katerina smiled and leaned back. The guy looked confused but followed Juice out to the door. Lauren sighed and shook her head.

"What was wrong with him?" I sat down next to Katerina and looked over at Lauren.

"He was scared and I didn't even pull a gun." Katerina moved her hand higher up on my thigh and squeezed. Lauren sighed and shrugged. We went through four more interviews for bouncers and were waiting on the last guy when Jax called.

"We've got ta be there in an hour, brother." Chibs closed his phone and relayed the message to me. I nodded and Juice headed to answer the door again. The guy that walked in was about my height and a little stockier.

"Hi, you must be Jason. I'm Lauren and that's Katerina." Lauren was obviously tired of introducing herself. Jason nodded and shook her hand. Then he shook Chibs' hand before doing the same with Katerina and I. He was the first one to do that.

Katerina and Lauren hit him with the same questions and scenarios before letting him go on his way about fifteen minutes later. I stayed silent and watched him the whole time. He didn't stare at either of the girls and made eye contact with me, but not for too long.

I stood up once he was out of the bar. Katerina raised her brow at me as she stood as well.

"Hire him." I said, bending down and kissing her briefly. She nodded and hugged me tightly.

"What? Why? He's never been a bouncer before." Lauren said over Chibs' shoulder as he hugged her. I was about to explain when I caught something moving outside the window. I drew my Glock and pushed Katerina behind me.

"Hap, what the hell?" She hissed. I moved towards the window and watched as Wright got into a red pickup truck in a hurry. I snarled and holstered my gun, pissed that we had to deal with the Mayan meet instead of that asshole. Katerina was waiting for an explanation when I turned around.

"Miles is going to make sure both of you get home. Kat, lock the doors and keep Harley inside." I kissed her roughly and headed out of the bar with Chibs and Juice right behind me. I knew she would be pissed that I didn't tell her what was going on, but I didn't have time.


	21. Blood

"Lauren let's go." I put the last of the reports Juice had pulled in the filing cabinet and looked at my best friend. She nodded and shut her laptop before wrapping her arm through mine and walking out of the office by my side.

"Do you mind if I come over?" I looked up at Lauren from digging in my purse for my keys. I'd thought something was going on with her earlier, but now I knew. Lauren and I always had an open door policy and never asked permission to visit or come over.

"Course not, Laruen. Miles! We're leaving." He jumped off the barstool and hurried to open the door for us. I rolled my eyes and walked outside. It was one thing to be respectful, but he was just kissing ass.

I propped my elbow against the window and blasted the music on the way home. Between Happy acting out earlier and Lauren being off now, I just wanted everyone to chill out. I decided to focus on Lauren at the moment. Happy was off on club business and if I worried about him, it would drive me crazy.

"Make yourself at home, doll." I closed and locked the door after Laruen made her way inside. She nodded and headed over to the couch, tossing her purse on the floor in front of her. Harley bounded inside from the backyard and climbed into my lap as I sat down at the opposite end of the couch from Lauren.

"He's going to squish you." Lauren said with a laugh as she reached out and scratched Harley's chin. I groaned and nodded as I tried to shift so his bones weren't grinding into mine. Eventually, we settled on my legs being on either side of him as he sprawled out between Lauren and I.

"Lauren, what's going on? Don't tell me it's nothing either." I met her gaze before she quickly looked down at her hands in her lap. Harley's ears perked at the soft sound of her sniffle.

"I can't be like you, K. Chibs and I can't go a day without fighting and I know he watches you and Happy and wishes I was more like you." Her breath shuddered as she inhaled through her nose. I bit my bottom lip in thought, trying to understand how she meant that.

"Like me how, Lauren? You and Chibs were inseparable before the guys got out. Anytime the two of you were together, it was like you'd been by his side for years." She scoffed and shook her head.

"Yeah and then I realized that my baby was going to be a bastard. We got into this huge fight about his wife. I want this baby to have both parents, K. I told him I wouldn't take his crow unless he marries me, and he can't do that. Rather, he won't take care of his shit so he could." Her sadness seemed to morph into anger as she finally let everything off her chest. Lauren had never shown interest in getting married before. Now, she seemed to want it, a lot.

"Lauren, I could take this ring off and it wouldn't change how I feel about Happy. It's okay to want to get married, but I don't understand why it matters so much. If you love each other and I know you'll both love the baby, then what does a piece of paper from the state matter?" I frowned and hoped I hadn't overstepped her hormonal limits. She huffed and gave me a look as if to ask whom I was kidding.

"You don't get it, do you? The croweaters see that ring on your finger and they back off. All they see when they look at me is a girl that got knocked up. I know he at least takes head from them sometimes." She went back to sounding sad as my temper flared.

"If those bitches see anything, it's the way Happy pushes them away and tells them no. If your old man won't do that and they won't listen to you, a ring or a tattoo isn't going to change a damn thing. How do you know he's letting them suck him off?" I had never noticed Chibs giving any of the croweaters or sweet butts anything more than a smile, but Lauren seemed certain she was right.

"I just know. Are you expecting anybody?" She was looking through a crack in the curtains. I shook my head at the same time that Harley jumped down from the couch and rushed towards the door, teeth bared and growling. I sighed and got up from the couch, wondering who could be outside without calling first.

I peeked out of the window and started to get anxious when I realized neither Miles nor his bike was outside. Instead, there was a large red truck parked in front of our mailbox. There was someone in the driver's seat, but I couldn't make out who it was from the window.

"Fucking Miles. Call Chibs or Happy, Lauren. Stay inside." I hooked Harley's leash on his collar and headed out to see who was sitting in front of the house. Lauren was bringing the phone up to her ear when I closed the door behind me.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Who is this?" I snapped, answering my phone just before getting back on the bike. The meeting was finally over and we were all ready to head back to Charming before my phone started vibrating.

"Lauren. I'm sorry, Chibs didn't answer when I tried to call him." I leaned back, aggravated that their domestic shit was wasting my time.

"We're about to head back. What do you need?" I growled, strapping my helmet on and glaring over at my brother. He looked back at me with a curious expression.

"You actually. K told me to call you. There's some truck outside and I don't think Miles is here." She had my full attention and I started my bike.

"Let me talk to Katerina." I growled as the bike idled. I was just waiting to tell Kat to move back to the bedroom before heading out.

"Uh, well she and Harley went out to see who it was. I'll get her, hold on." I gripped the phone tightly as I heard her shuffling and opening the door. She yelled for Katerina and everything went to shit. There was a gun shot and Lauren screaming in the phone.

"Lauren! What the fuck? Hello?" The line was dead. I didn't wait to fill the others in before pulling out quickly, barely managing to keep control. The others followed me quickly as I flew down the highway. My mind was racing through scenarios and what to do for each possible situation.

The ride seemed to take forever when, in reality, we made it back to Charming within thirty minutes from an hour away. My heart was trying to break out of my chest when I saw several police cars in front of my house. I didn't bother shutting my bike off and barely remembered to put the stand down.

"What the fuck is going on?" I was shoving through cops, looking for my old lady. Lauren was sitting on the steps with her head in her hands. I felt hands grabbing my arms and trying to pull me away. Reflexes kicked in and I threw my elbow up and back, connecting hard with the face of a cop.

"Let him go, it's his house!" Jax was pulling the cop off of me as Roosevelt walked over. He nodded and the cop with a freshly broken nose let me go.

"Where the fuck is Katerina?" Roosevelt swallowed hard and held his hands up in front of his chest. I repeated my question, losing more and more restraint.

"We're working on figuring that out, Lowman. Ms. Buckley was able to give us a description of the suspects vehicle." My heart stopped and my veins constricted as I processed what Roosevelt said. He didn't know where Katerina was and there was a suspect. She was gone.

"Tara! What's going on?" Jax's voice broke into my thoughts. I looked up and saw his old lady, walking out of my house with blood all over her. She eyed me cautiously as she walked up to Jax.

"Lauren called me. She said Katerina was arguing with somebody in front of a red truck and Harley was lunging at him. When Lauren called for Katerina, Harley bit the guy's leg and then he shot him before putting the gun to Kat's head." Tara sobbed and tried to wipe the blood off her hands and onto her jeans. "He pulled her into the truck and took off. I'm sorry, Happy."

"Lowman, can you think of anybody that would do this?" Roosevelt looked back to me and I shook my head. I knew who this was. Jax hurried after me as I headed back out to my Dyna. This was my kill, not something I was willing to let the cops handle. Clay wasn't going to take this to the table. This was my family, not the club. As soon as my old lady was safe, that bastard was fucking dead.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

My head was killing me as the world started coming back into focus. I felt warm liquid coming from my forehead and there was a loud ringing in my ear from where the gun had gone off so close to me. My arms were bound tightly to opposite posts of an iron headboard. I started breathing hard and fast as my memory of the last hour or so fell into place.

"Good morning, sunshine." Wright's face appeared over me with a sickening smile. I did my best to cuss him up one side and down the other, but the gag in my mouth made everything sound like loud grunts and moans. He laughed and brushed some hair out of the clotting blood on my forehead.

"You should have taken the easy way, Recker. You're going to be okay. A few months away from that trash and you'll realize how in love with me you can be." He bent down to kiss my forehead and I slammed it into his mouth, slightly satisfied to see blood start oozing out of his nose. He was fucking crazy to think that I'd ever forgive him, much less love him.

"You stupid bitch. Don't tell me you think your biker boyfriend is going to save you. He probably doesn't even know you're gone." I scowled and flipped him the middle finger on both of my hands. He smirked and grabbed the front of my shirt. I shook my head and kicked out, hoping to connect with something hard enough to get him off of me. He smirked and walked over to the other side of the room. My eyes widened to the size of saucers when I saw the transport bag he was digging into. I knew there were leg restraints in the bag. If he could get my legs shackled, I would be defenseless.

I kicked wildly as he walked back towards me with a pair of restraints. He smirked and pulled a knife out of his back pocket. I narrowed my eyes, betting that he wouldn't dare cut me. He reached for my right ankle and I kicked out hard with my left leg. The knife was slammed into my left thigh and I screamed loudly, distracted just long enough for him to shackle my right ankle to the footboard.

"Don't worry, Recker. I like a woman that puts up a fight." Wright smiled and winked at me as he moved over to my left side. I tried to kick out again and felt a searing pain from the place where the knife was still sticking out of my leg. He laughed and yanked my ankle to him, quickly shackling it to the other side of the footboard so that I was spread eagle on the bed. I closed my eyes tightly, knowing what was coming soon. In my mind, I pictured Happy's face. I tried to force myself not to breathe so I could pass out and miss the assault that Wright was starting by ripping my shirt off, cutting it from neck to bottom with the knife he removed from my leg.


	22. I'm Sorry

Everything was getting fuzzy and fading in and out of focus from the loss of blood and what I assumed was a concussion. Wright was taking his time and I almost wished he would just get it over with. The feel of his lips, tongue and hands on me made me sick. It had been at least thirty minutes since he cut my shirt and bra off. He had rubbed his disgusting hands over every inch of my arms, neck, chest and stomach.

"You're so sweet tasting, Recker. How does that tattooed bastard do it? Like this?" He reared his hand back and slapped me hard across the face, causing my vision to black out for a minute. I whimpered and prayed to every god, demigod and saint I could remember and some I probably fabricated in my head.

He gripped my breast tightly and ran the tip of the blood stained knife from my throat to my belly button before trailing his tongue down the same path. I turned my head to the side and dry heaved, having already thrown up any and all contents of my stomach. The bastard had been nice enough to clean it up with a towel before punching me in the stomach for having dared gotten sick.

"Once we're done, I'll do you the favor of cutting that shit off, baby." He scraped the edge of the blade over my crow tattoo gently. I used what little strength I had to spit at him, earning myself another punch to the face.

I must have blacked out, because I woke up to him pulling my jeans down my legs. My mind urged me to struggle and fight, but my body didn't have the energy anymore. I closed my eyes and recalled the image of Happy playing on the floor with Harley. It was so vivid I thought I almost heard his voice. I could feel my tears rolling down my swollen cheeks.

"Hap! Down here!" It almost sounded like Tig's voice. I remembered how they would try and act like they didn't like each other when they were locked up. At the end of the day, they always made up though. I wondered what the end of the day would mean for me.

The sound of clanging metal cell doors flashed in my mind. My throat tightened at the thought of never seeing Happy again. I couldn't feel Wright touching me anymore. I forced my swollen eyes open and almost thought I saw Happy standing over me. I tried to swallow and choked.

"I'm here, baby. You're going to be okay." His voice sounded so real as consciousness slipped away.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Katerina? Baby, wake up." Her eyes had rolled back in her head and her skin was whiter than snow. Chibs and Jax had Wright tied up and drug upstairs as I checked on my fiancé. The sight of her cuffed and shackled to the fucking bed made me sick.

That bastard was pulling her jeans down when Tig and I busted the door to the basement down. Had she not been bleeding from her leg and purple and black, I would have killed him right there. He didn't deserve the favor of a quick death and my priority was making sure Katerina was safe, so Chibs and Jax moved him upstairs to wait.

I took my kutte off and laid it over her chest, blocking her naked torso from Tig's view. I knew even he wouldn't check her out at a time like this, but I didn't want her to be so fucking exposed. After pulling her jeans back up as carefully as possible, I made a tourniquet with my belt, hoping to put a stop to the blood pouring out of her leg. Judging by the blood soaked mattress, she'd been bleeding for a while.

"Brother, I've got Juice on the way with Tara and the van. She's gotta go to St. Thomas though." I glanced over at Tig as I finished picking the cuff lock on the last shackle around her right ankle. I nodded.

"Have them take that fucker somewhere. Cops are gonna catch on eventually." Tig nodded and hurried back up the stairs after glancing at Katerina with a pained expression.

"Happy?" Katerina's voice was barley a whisper and her eyes were still closed as I held her in my arms. I swallowed hard and kissed her blood-covered forehead.

"It's me, baby. I've got you. Nothing's going to happen to you." The tears escaping my eyes made me want to punch my fist through the concrete walls of the basement. Instead, I held her a little tighter and just let the fucking tears fall. If I was going to cry, this was as good a reason as any.

"Love you." I could barley hear her and her breathing was shallow. I nodded and rested my forehead against hers, holding her like a child in my arms.

"I love you too, Katerina. You're the air in my lungs. Don't you give up on me. I'm not about to fucking give up on you." Her lips turned up a little at the corners as my chest heaved with a sob. I'd watched enough people die to know how close she was to slipping away from me.

"Happy! Oh my god!" Tara rushed over to me. Her eyes didn't leave Katerina as she told me to follow her out to the van. I hurried as carefully as possible, making sure not to run over Tara as she tried to get Kat's vitals on the way up the stairs. Her facial expression did nothing for my confidence.

It had been over three hours since Tara disappeared into the depths of the hospital with my reason for living. She had reappeared briefly to give me my kutte, but didn't have any news at that point. So, I took up residency in the waiting room to wait. The whole Redwood charter was scattered around the waiting room as well. Tig was the only one stupid or brave enough to sit near me.

"She's going to be okay, brother." I slowly turned my eyes on him and scowled.

"You willing to bet your life on that? Don't fucking promise shit like that." I growled before turning my eyes back to the specks in the tile between my boots. It was going on four hours and we still didn't know shit.

"Sir, you can't have a dog in here." A bitchy sounding nurse said loudly as she rushed past me. I turned around and saw Opie half carrying Harley. He started whining as soon as he saw me.

"Fuck off." I snapped at the nurse as I walked up from behind her. Harley's front shoulder was wrapped in copious amounts of gauze and bandage from the bullet wound Wright had caused him. I clenched my fist, mentally adding it towards the bottom of the list of reasons I'd be torturing the fucker later.

"I'm sorry brother. Lyla said he took off down the road towards your place. He's too damn big and thick headed for her to handle." He handed the leash over to me as I nodded. Harley's head was on my shoulder as I squatted in front of him, carefully petting him.

"He's just looking for Katerina." I picked him up with no small amount of effort and carried him back over to where Tig and I were sitting. Tig pulled a couch over and helped me lower Harley down onto it without jarring his shoulder.

"Happy," Tara was in fresh scrubs as she headed over towards me. Harley looked up and watched her carefully as I got up. I couldn't read her facial expression and it irritated me.

"We need to talk. She's going to make it, Happy. It's going to be a few minutes before you can see her and there's something we need to talk about." I relaxed a little when she told me Katerina was going to make it. Anything else she had to say, I could deal with, as long as Kat was going to make it.

"What?" I didn't sit down in the chair she offered me once we got into her office. It felt like I'd been sitting around all fucking day, getting nothing done. Tara was obviously nervous to be in a small, closed off room with me. I didn't have the energy left to care if she relaxed or not.

"Because of the situation you found Katerina in, I went ahead and ran a rape panel. That bastard didn't rape her, thank god. But, part of the testing process is to run a standard pregnancy test." Her eyes finally met mine at the words pregnancy test. I folded my arms across my chest.

"And? She's not pregnant, Tara." It wasn't something I had any doubts or questions about. She was on the shot and hadn't been sick or any of that shit. Tara swallowed hard and shoved her hands down into her pockets.

"She was, Happy. I'm sorry. It's likely she didn't even know. The trauma to her stomach in combination with her blood loss led to a miscarriage." My whole body went numb as Tara went on about how it shouldn't affect her in the future and how she might have some hormone changes or some shit. She finally stopped talking and stared at me.

"You're telling me that fucker killed our baby?" I focused on her eyes as she frowned. My fingers were digging into the back of the office chair she'd offered me a seat in earlier.

"Based on the hormone levels, Katerina wasn't further along than about six weeks, if that. The events did lead up to the loss of the fetus." I nodded slowly as everything started to turn red.

"Our baby." I growled before picking up the chair and hurling it against the wall. Tara yelped and jumped backwards as I slammed my fist in the wall, breaking through the sheetrock like it was thin air. I heard the door fly open as I put my boot through the front of the wooden desk in front of me.

"Happy!" It took me a minute to recognize Tig's voice as several arms pinned me against the wall. Jax looked from me to Tara as I started reigning my anger back in and tried to breathe slower.

"Tara, are you okay?" Jax was looking her over as she nodded slowly. I relaxed and shook Tig, Juice, Opie and Chibs off of me.

"I'm sorry, Happy." I didn't look at her as I nodded and called Harley down. He was standing in the doorway on full alert and ready to jump at my signal. I scratched him behind the ears and headed back out to the waiting room until I could see Katerina.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

I woke up in a hospital bed with no recollection of how I got there or what had happened after I spit on Wright. There was a large bandage around my leg and I a tube was pumping a bag of blood into me. I pulled the neck of the hospital gown down and relaxed a little when I found my crow tattoo unscathed.

"Oh thank God." I barely even caught a glimpse of a short red head's ponytail as she darted down the hallway. Within moments, she was back in the room. I almost asked her what was going on when I saw Happy walking in behind her. My throat constricted and I couldn't speak as tears poured down my face. The nurse looked from me to Happy and smiled before leaving again.

"Hey baby." He sat down on the bed and laced his fingers in between my fingers on the hand without the I.V. The touch of his skin made my heart melt. I knew I would be okay somehow.

"Happy, I'm sorry." I choked out, tears falling down my face in quick streams. He shook his head and kissed my lips gently. I felt a sting from what must be a busted lip, but it was worth it.

"It's okay, Katerina. It's okay." He rested his head on my chest and I could tell he was exhausted. His thumb traced small circles on my hand as we just laid side by side, neither one of us feeling the need to speak. He was all I needed or wanted, just for him to be here with me.

A few minutes later, I felt Happy's breathing slow down and level out. His thumb had stopped circling and I knew he was asleep, even though his hand gripped mine to make sure I didn't disappear. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes for a minute. It was short lived as the same little red headed nurse screeched and ran past the window to the room. Happy shifted a little but he didn't wake up until there was a loud bark from out in the hallway.

"Harley?" I called out with fresh tears of happiness falling down my face. I could hear the clicking of his claws on the tile floor and his panting before he bounded into the room. I thought I'd lost him in the line of duty. I thought he'd given the ultimate sacrifice for me.

"Hard headed dog." Happy growled as Harley struggled to throw his front paws up on the side of the bed. He yelped but didn't back down as he pushed his nose into my hand. I smiled as he licked my palm. Happy shook his head before putting it back down on my chest.

"No point sending him out, he'll just fight his way back in here." Tara was standing in the doorway with a weak smile. I laughed and gave her a smirk.

"Who? Happy or Harley?" Happy grunted and I laughed. Tara seemed to relax a little as she pointed at Harley. He cocked his head a little but ignored her presence otherwise.

"I talked to the doctor and he's willing to let you stay in the room, Happy. He's a little less excited about Harley but it's for the safety of the staff that no one try to keep him out anymore. Let me know if you all need anything. There's a counselor coming by in the morning." She glanced at Happy for a minute and I felt him tense.

"I don't need one, Tara. I've got everything I need right here with me." I smiled and couldn't help noticing Happy shifting a little. There was no doubt that something was going on, but I didn't want to ruin the happiness I needed so much.

"Can you send Jax back here?" Happy was sitting up again as Tara nodded and hurried out to get her old man. Happy started circling his thumb over the back of my hand again as we waited for Jax.

"Hey, Recker. No more scaring us like that, okay?" His smile was bright as he walked into the room. I laughed and nodded as Happy glanced from me to Jax. Happy was about to say something when Jax held up his hand.

"We got everything taken care of, brother. Goods can wait until you've got time, Juice is going to pick up Recker's sister from the airport in the morning, and I'm taking you off shit for a while." Jax spoke quickly and I heard a tone of authority that hadn't been as obvious before. I expected Happy to argue about taking time off from the club.

"A'ight brother. I appreciate that. Tell Tara I'm sorry." He was short and to the point. Jax nodded with a smile before saying goodbye and heading out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"I completely forgot about Kiara getting here in the morning! Shit." I groaned and Harley's ears perked up in alarm. I patted his snout softly and looked over at Happy. He shrugged and toed his boots off before laying down next to me.

"Everything's going to be okay, Kat. We can worry about everything in the morning. I love you, baby." He kissed me gently but I could feel the passion and relief on his lips. I smiled and nodded.

"I love you too, Happy. For always, forever and no matter what." I felt him nod against my shoulder as he settled in next to me. He had a hand lying protectively on my stomach as we drifted off to sleep.

**I apologize for any typos or grammar problems. I ****want****ed to push this out to you as soon as possible. Thank you soooooooo much for all the reviews, follows, favorites and reads :) it means the world!**


	23. Tools

"Kat, I gotta tell you something before that shrink gets in here. I should have told you before, but I was just trying to give you some time." Happy's hand was running up and down my arm, creating goosebumps and tingles. I nodded and kept my eyes on the hand that was over my own.

"They did some tests yesterday to make sure that fucker didn't rape you." I felt all the blood drain from my face. Had he gotten that far before Happy got there? Suddenly, I felt dirty. Happy shook his head and kissed my knuckles so lightly I may have missed it if I didn't see it.

"You're okay, Kat. He didn't get that far before we got there. Fuck, I don't know why I can't just tell you." I bit my lip and felt my heart crumbling as his eyes started glistening with tears. This was the closest to crying I'd ever witnessed from him.

"Happy, I love you. Whatever it is, we'll get through it together okay?" I took his head in my hands and pulled him into a kiss. I could feel his lip trembling against mine. The kiss was brief but sweet. Happy nodded and pulled back to look at me.

"You were pregnant, Katerina." His voice was back to his normal rasp but I could tell there was a dam holding back all of the emotions he was trying to deny. I blinked a couple times as his words started to sink in.

"I'm not anymore?" My voice betrayed me and cracked under the pressure. My eyes fell to the hand he had resting on my stomach and I felt sick. We had just talked about not wanting kids on the way to Maria's house. I was sure about not wanting to have a baby and it turns out I was pregnant during that conversation.

"Katerina." Happy brought my chin up to look at him after a few minutes of silence. His eyes were as dark as usual but I could see sadness there.

"This is my fault." My vision blurred as tears poured down my cheeks and violent sobs rocked my entire body. The sobbing made my body hurt, but it was nowhere close to what my heart was feeling.

"It's not your fault, Katerina. Even if you would have known before, you didn't do anything wrong. That shit is on the fucker waiting to die a slow and painful death." His eyes shifted to dark and cold. I nodded and buried my face in his neck. This was one of those times that I needed to be a strong old lady for my man. He had enough on his plate without me being an emotional wreck.

The session with the counselor didn't go to well. She kept asking questions about how I felt and it made it that much harder to keep a strong outer shell. Towards the end, both of my leading men were irritable and jumpy. Harley started growling and staring the counselor down while Happy snapped at her for asking the same question in three different ways when I didn't give her the answer she was looking for.

Happy and I were sitting on opposite ends of the bed with a game of cards going on between us. He was doing his best to teach me how to bluff a hand in poker, but I couldn't keep a straight face. It was something simple but it kept my mind off of everything I'd learned in the past two hours. He called my bluff again with a smirk.

"Katerina!" My eyes snapped up as my younger sister rushed into the room. Harley sat up and watched Kiara carefully, clearly concerned with the amount of energy she was bringing into the room. Happy stood up and moved to calm our dog down.

"Kiara! I can't believe you're actually here! Sorry I'm not exactly throwing you a party right now." She laughed and shook her caramel colored hair around in protest. It had been too long since I last saw her.

"Ya, it's been quite a while, hasn't it? I missed ya, Shelia!" She hugged me and kissed both of my cheeks. I returned the favor and felt my mood lift a little.

"Kiara, this is my fiancé Happy. Happy, this is Kiara." I was curious to see how they would get along since their personalities were so different. Happy nodded with a small smile as Kiara waved with a huge grin.

"Heard a lot about you. Who's Shelia?" Happy was to the point, obviously curious why Kiara had called me that. She and I both laughed and I shook my head slowly.

"She hasn't lived here, Hap. In Australia, Shelia is what we call hot women." I smiled as Happy raised a brow and nodded slowly, unsure what to think about the strange new language. He was in for a surprise when it came to Kiara's slang and phrases.

"Sorry I don't sound like a bloody Yank, Katerina. I like him better than that galah Declan. When are ya getting out a here?" She flopped down on the couch next to Harley and hugged him around the neck. He looked uncomfortable for a minute, but eventually relaxed.

"I don't know yet, doll. I lost a lot of blood and they want to watch me for a little while. Was the ride here okay?" She laughed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Tha bloke ya sent ta fetch me looks like 'es got a few kangaroos loose in tha top paddock, Kat. Plane ride was fine." Happy shook his head and rubbed his palm over the stubble growing out of his scalp.

"Juice isn't dense, Kiara. He's just a goof." Happy walked over and kissed me on the forehead.

"I'm gonna go take care of that thing, baby. Call me if you need me." I bit my bottom lip and nodded. Happy returned my nod, said goodbye to Kiara and headed out of the room. He paused to talk to Juice outside of the room before disappearing down the hall.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"You sure you want to do this right now, Hap? The fucker can wait." Tig climbed off his bike and looked over at me as I took my helmet off. I stared at the warehouse we were about to go into and nodded. This had to get done or it was going to keep eating away at the back of my mind. Katerina was obviously faking being okay and the sooner this fuck was dead, the sooner we could get past this shit.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I walked into the warehouse and my mind cleared. All of my focus was on the task at hand. A ripple of energy coursed through my veins when my eyes landed on the man chained to a metal column. He was staring right at me with a terrified look in his dilated eyes.

"Need me to do anything?" Tig had a grin on his face as he looked from Wright to the tools I was laying out on a table. My backpack was almost empty when I finally shook my head.

"Nah, just watch my phone." I passed it over to him before picking up the vegetable peeler. I tapped it on the heel of my hand, trying to decide if I wanted to start off with it or pliers. Wright made some type of noise through his gag and I decided on the vegetable peeler.

"I'm going to kill you, eventually. First there's a long list of shit you're going to bleed for." I couldn't hold back a laugh while Wright's jeans darkened as he pissed himself. He whimpered and shook his head wildly as I brought my knife out and cut his shirt off.

"This is for touching Katerina back in Stockton." The memories of him grabbing her wrist flashed in my mind as I pressed the peeler into his chest and drug it down his skin. His whole body tensed as he arched his back and screamed through the gag. His blood was already flowing over my hand.

"I didn't know if this thing would actually work. Pretty cool." I shrugged and turned the peeler over in my hand and looked at the trail of peeled skin on his chest.

"That's a whole other level of gross." Tig said with a laugh as I returned to the tool table. I glanced back at Wright and shrugged.

"Never used it before. Think I might go through the whole bag." Tig's brow raised as he took a drag from his cigarette. I had at least sixty different tools and toys in my bag, not counting the combinations I could come up with.

Three hours passed and I was covered in Wright's blood. He was slumped down against the column and breathing shallowly. Tig had already started cleaning what tools I'd used with bleach. My job was almost done, but it was time to face the second worst discretion on my list. I closed my eyes and took my knife off my belt. It was the ka-bar that Katerina had gotten me for Christmas.

"You tired brother? I can finish this shit." Tig tossed a now clean set of brass knuckles into the bag. I shook my head and took a deep breath.

"No." I headed back over to what was left of the man that had tortured my fiancé close to death and had killed our unborn child. It didn't matter if either of us had known about or wanted a kid. That was our baby, regardless of whatever medical bullshit Tara said about it being viable at that age. This fucker took the choice to keep it or not away from us.

I cut the bandanna that was gagging him and bent down so that I was eye level with his heavily hooded eyes. When he didn't look at me, I slapped his face, spraying blood off into the floor. He groaned and his eyes opened just enough to see me.

"You're going to hell." He spat at me with as much hatred as he could muster. I nodded and grabbed a handful of hair at the back of his head.

"Don't worry, we'll pick up where we left off when I get there." I pulled his head back so that his throat was fully exposed and drove the ka-bar through the side of his neck. I didn't pull it out so that he would live long enough to feel the pain. The life in his eyes started to fade further and further away.

I unloaded a magazine of hollow-point .45mm bullets into his body: one bullet in each knee, one bullet in each thigh, two in the stomach, one in each shoulder and finally two in the head. My ears were ringing loudly even after the echoing of the ten bullets faded away. I put my Glock 21 down on the table to let it cool off before holstering it back in my waistband. Tig clapped a hand on my shoulder and nodded silently.

"I'll get the prospects to come clean this up, brother." I shook my head and leaned on the table, looking back at Wright's lifeless body.

"Nah, I got it. Speaking of prospects though, you seen that fucker Miles?" I turned my gaze to Tig and he swallowed hard. The prospect had been smart enough to keep out of my sight ever since Katerina got grabbed. Now that I was done with Wright, I had to make sure Miles paid for leaving my old lady alone.

"He's been laying low, Hap. He knows he fucked up." I laughed and lit up a cigarette.

"Yeah, he ain't getting my vote, brother. Won't ever see that bottom rocker." I said with a shake of my head. Tig nodded slowly. My phone started vibrating and Katerina's name lit up on the screen. I wiped the blood off of my hand with a rag and flipped the phone open.

"Hey baby, everything okay?" I took a long drag off the cigarette and blew the smoke out through my nose as Tig crossed the room to get my knife out of the dead guy's throat.

"Yeah, I was just checking on you. Kiara went to go get me something to eat." I nodded and looked at the screen to check the time. I'd been gone for almost five hours already. The sound of her voice pulled me out of the rapturous mood I was in.

"I'm good, Kat. I'll be back in an hour, maybe less. I love you, Katerina Recker." I took the bleached knife from Tig and nodded a silent thank you. He pointed over at the body and raised his brow. I wiggled the phone in my hand and nodded. Tig got the message and got on his own phone to call in prospects to clean this shit up. I'd planned on burning the fucker, but I wanted to get back to the hospital more.

"I love you too, Happy. Take your time. Harley needs food if you wouldn't mind going by the house and getting some." She sounded tired and I knew her tough girl act wouldn't last much longer.

"Yeah, I got it. I need to take a shower too. I'll be there soon." I stood up and finished packing the bag.

"Okay, Happy. Be careful." I promised and snapped the phone shut. Tig gave me a weak smile as he lit up another cigarette. I hitched a shoulder and zipped the bag before swinging over my back. He knew something was wrong, but I wasn't ready to tell anybody about the baby. I wasn't really sure if I'd ever tell them about it.


	24. Blood Worth Bottling

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"He would understand if you cried, K. I don't even know the bloke but I can tell he loves you." Kiara said as she sat cross legged at the end of the hospital bed. I took a french fry from her bag and nodded.

"I already cried, Kiara. It's not fair of me to cry when it's my own damn fault." Admitting it out loud killed what little appetite I had. Kiara frowned as I tossed the fry back into the bag and leaned back. It was true though, if I had just stayed inside and waited for Happy or someone to get there, none of this would have happened.

Of course Happy put the blame on himself. I could see it in his eyes when he didn't think I was watching him. Most people couldn't tell Happy's angry expression from his happy expression because it was normally his eyes that showed the truth. He could be scowling but if his eyes were light, it was obvious to me that he was happy.

I had learned the fine art of reading Happy while he was in Stockton. During that time, there were things that he couldn't say but I got the message with just one look in his eyes.

There was a knock on the open door that pulled me out of the thoughts I had gotten lost in. Miles was standing in the hall, looking in with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. Kiara scowled at him and looked back at me to see what I wanted to do. I just nodded silently and watched as he walked into my room.

"Happy isn't here is he?" Miles hesitated before coming any closer to me. I shook my head and pushed myself up off of my pillows.

"He's on his way. Miles, this is my sister Kiara. Kiara, this is Miles, he's a prospect for the Sons." I explained as Miles nodded to her and put the flowers on the table by the bed. He crammed his hands in his pockets and frowned. Kiara eyed him curiously.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there, Katerina. I wasn't even thinking. I should have stayed outside." He shifted uncomfortably and struggled to keep eye contact with me. I bit my bottom lip and took a deep breath. In some way, I did blame him for not being there, but not nearly as much as Happy did. I recognized that I shouldn't have confronted Wright when I realized Miles wasn't around.

"Hind sight is twenty-twenty." I shrugged and looked away from him. I couldn't exactly forgive him but I knew he would have fought for me had he been there. Kiara shifted on the bed and I looked up from picking at my nails to see her staring at the door.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Happy barked as he tossed Harley's bag of food down onto a chair. Harley woke up at the sound of trouble and jumped up on the bed, ignoring the lack of space between Kiara and I. His ears laid back and his teeth starting showing.

"Hap, brother, I'm sorry. I didn't know she'd." Miles didn't get to finish his excuse. Happy caught him around the throat and slammed him against the wall. His eyes were as black and as cold as coal as he stared at the prospect.

"Happy! Stop!" I tried to reach out for him but between the bed rails and my pain, I couldn't get to him. Happy landed blow after blow as Miles tried to shove him off. He easily had fifty pounds on Happy but where Miles had weight, Happy had muscle.

"You stupid fuck." Happy growled as he drew his knife. I saw Kiara slap her hand over her mouth out of the corner of my eye. Miles was already bleeding all over the wall and I knew Happy would kill him if someone didn't stop him.

"Happy!" I managed to lower the bed rail and scoot close enough to the edge of the bed to brush my hand against his kutte. He paused and pulled his knife off of Miles' neck, luckily it hadn't broken the skin yet. I watched the manic look in his eyes fade to anger and he let go of Miles, ignoring the prospect as he slid down onto the floor.

"Kat, babe." He helped me back to the middle of the bed and brushed my hair out of my face. Kiara bit her lip and looked past him to catch my eye. She nodded and slid off the bed. I watched as she dug a pair of sunglasses out of her purse and put them on Miles.

"Let's go mate." She struggled to help him up to his feet, but finally managed to get him up and out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind them, I broke down in my man's arms. The sobs hurt my chest and my back, but it still didn't measure up to the pain I felt emotionally.

"I'm sorry, Happy. I never meant for this to happen. I didn't know." I could barely understand myself through the sobbing and my face being pressed into his kutte. He cradled the back of my head with one hand and rubbed my back with the other. I cried for myself, I cried for Happy, and I cried for the child we never knew we had to lose.

"Katerina, it isn't your fault. I should have been there with you, baby. I love you. We have time. We can talk about maybe trying to get you knocked up, Kat. Fuck, I'll walk away from the club and do the family thing if you want me to, Katerina." His voice was a comforting whisper in my ear between soft kisses. We both knew he would never leave the club. It was as much a part of his life as I was and I had accepted that long ago. Just the emotionally driven offer to leave it all behind for a family meant the world to me, even though we both knew it would never happen. The reality of the offer wasn't the point. I just needed to know he loved me.

"I love you too." I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing as my tears slowly stopped flowing. Happy kissed my lips gently and I could feel how much he wanted and needed me. I parted my lips and savored the taste of the mint toothpick he must have been chewing on during the ride over.

"Baby, you're going to hurt yourself." Happy said as he put his hand over mine to stop me from working on his belt. I pulled his mouth back down to mine and tried to pretend that we weren't in a hospital bed. I tried to pretend that my body wasn't aching from the over exertion.

**1 MONTH LATER**

"Katerina, you look amazing." Lauren kissed my cheek as I smoothed out the front of my dress. It had taken a lot of altering and convincing from Lauren, Kiara and Hap's Ma for me to wear the dress I had originally ordered for a wedding to Declan.

The top was the only part I didn't change because I knew how Happy would love the way it showed off my tattoo. Maria had altered the skirt to both thin it out to be less poofy and shortened in the front so it would show a peek of my matching blue heels. I looked at the dipped coloring of the bottom of the skirt and smiled. It was finally the day I had promised to honor my mom with the dress.

"She would be so happy for you, Katerina. Hap's blood's worth bottling, love. Moms would have thought so to." Kiara said with a bright smile. I bit my bottom lip to hold back a tear as I nodded.

"I'm sorry, why are you bottling someone's blood? Is that an aborigine thing?" Juice asked as he poked his head into the room. I laughed as Kiara spun around with a scowl. They had recently started fooling around together, but she hated when she had to explain her lingo.

"It means he's a good bloke, Juice. Rack off, would ya?" He had been around her long enough to know that meant get lost. She gave him a quick kiss before he hurried out of the room. Kiara blushed as she turned back to me.

"You're so staying in America, Kiara. Quit trying to deny it. What time is it? I'm ready to marry my man." I took a sip of my beer and looked around for a clock. We were in a rented beach house and the owners apparently didn't believe in clocks. Maria laughed and handed me my phone that she had been holding hostage.

"Happy seems pretty eager himself, sweetheart." She smiled and kissed my cheek. I looked down at the screen that was full of messages from Happy. I glanced at the clock before reading through them all.

**_No running, woman._**

******_Can we just get to the honeymoon already?_**

******_I love you, Katerina Recker Lowman_**

******_Seriously, why are we waiting for six o'clock?_**

There were several other messages, but I got the point that he was getting restless. I smiled as the time flipped over to five 'til six. I handed Lauren my phone so she could put it in her clutch. She rubbed her barely showing stomach and smiled. I had gotten off the hook of waiting until she was almost six months pregnant to have the wedding since she was barely showing.

"We'll see you out there, K. I love you." Lauren kissed my cheek and squeezed my hand before she and Maria headed down to the beach, leaving Kiara and I alone in the room. She smiled and took my hand.

"Close your eyes." She said, waiting until my eyes were fully closed before moving. A moment later, Kiara was holding my hand again. "Okay, open them."

"Kiara! Where did you get these? I thought they had gone walkabout." In her hand was a velvet box that held two sapphire and diamond earrings that had once belonged to our mother. I thought they had been lost long before I left Australia. Kiara shook her head and started putting them through the holes in my ears.

"I found them in a cigar box as I was packing up the house a few months ago." She finished putting the second earring in and stepped back with a smile and tears in her eyes. Kiara had been very close with our mother and I knew it was why she had refused to move to the United States even after Mom and Dad died.

"Thank you, Kiara. Not just for this, but for helping me deal with everything. I couldn't have done it without you." I gave up trying to hold a couple tears back and she immediately started waving air at my face. She was smiling and shaking her head.

"Nah, Katerina. Ya have a man that loves ya more than life itself. Let's go get ya handed off to him before he comes in here guns a blazing." I smiled so broadly it hurt my cheeks as I nodded and followed her towards the door. She took a bouquet of flowers off the table and smiled brightly at me before heading out to the ceremony. I looked out as she walked away and took a deep breath before picking up my own bouquet and following suite.

**Thank you all for reading and the wonderful reviews I have enjoyed reading myself. I apologize for the delay and will try and get an update in as soon as possible. I'm trying to give them some wonderful memories at the wedding, so I apologize it's taking a while to write.**


	25. Forever, For Always, and No Matter What

I ran my thumb over my currently bare ring finger on my left hand as I stared down the aisle. My Mr. Mayhem ring had been relocated to my right hand and it felt unnatural. Tig nudged me on the shoulder and I turned to look back at him. He smiled and nodded towards the crowd.

Kiara was walking down the aisle between the two sections of wooden folding chairs that held the Redwood Original charter, their old ladies and kids, and Ma and my aunt. She was smiling brightly and I could finally see why everyone said she and Katerina looked so much alike.

Until today, I had only seen her in jeans and hoodies with her hair up. Now, Kiara was wearing some blue dress that clung to her and stopped just below her knees. She was beautiful, but I was still partial to Katerina's curves and the way she looked when she laughed. I noticed that other women just didn't do it for me anymore almost as soon as I got out of Stockton.

What felt like hours later, I saw Katerina standing at the end of the aisle. She was smiling and staring back at me. Eventually, she started walking towards me and I drank her in with my eyes. Her dress showed off her crow tattoo and the tops of her boobs, along with her flat stomach. I smiled at the blue in her dress that I remembered her talking to me about back when she was a guard and I was just a convict wanting to get in her pants.

"Fancy seeing you here, Lowman." Katerina winked as she handed her flowers to Kiara. I smirked and nodded, incapable of forming words to express what I was thinking or how I was feeling. The priest smiled and nodded to Katerina before clearing his throat to get everyone's attention.

"Ladies and Gentleman, we're gathered here today to celebrate the marriage between Happy and Katerina. They have both prepared their own vows and have informed me that I am only here for legal purposes. On that note, Katerina, I think you wanted to go first." The priest smiled and our guests silenced their chuckles. Neither one of us were overly religious, but Ma was devout Catholic and we had to have someone there, so Katerina went with Ma's priest.

"Happy, I promise to love you on good days and bad days. I promise to listen when you want me to and force you to talk to me when you need to. I promise to fall more in love with you every single day and give you reasons to want to come home." She started tearing up and sniffled a little as I took her hand. She smiled up at me and took a deep breath before continuing her vows from memory.

"I promise to support your decisions and stand by your side through thick and thin. I promise to sleep on your side of the bed while you're gone on long runs and always keep you in my heart. I promise to be a good old lady. I promise to be a great wife. I give you my all, forever, for always, and no matter what." She smiled and blushed a little as she nodded. I knew it was my turn and I took a deep breath before digging my cheat sheet out of the inner pocket of my kutte.

"Katerina, you came into my life during a time that I thought I could never find happiness. You met me at my worst and from that day on, I swore to always give you my best. I swear to always be there for you. I swear to protect you. I swear to give you a reason to smile every day and to call you from the road and let you know I'm okay. I swear to be the man you deserve and love you with every breath I have left in my chest. Katerina, you have my heart and soul forever, for always, and no matter what." I smiled and put the paper back in my kutte. Katerina was wiping tears off her cheeks and smiling the smile I'd fallen in love with long ago.

"And?" Chibs called from the audience. I rolled my eyes as all of my brothers egged me on. Katerina giggled a little and hitched her shoulder.

"I promise to treat you as good as my leather and ride you a fuck load more than my Harley." I said loudly before pulling her to me and kissing her deeply. The crowd whistled and cat called as I did my best to keep some self-control. Katerina pulled back and shook her head at me with a laugh.

"Well, there's not much I can really add to that. So, by the power invested to me by God and the State of California, I now pronounce you man and wife. You can kiss the bride, again." The priest smiled and clapped me on the shoulder. I smirked at him before kissing Katerina like it was the last time I would ever get to touch her again. She moaned into my mouth and I didn't even hear the cheering of the crowd anymore.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Katerina, I'd rather have a private party with you." Happy growled in my ear as we got a quick break from our family congratulating us. I rolled my eyes with a smile and kissed his cheek.

"You'll get plenty of private time with me, Mr. Lowman." I promised him. He twisted his mouth and shook his head as if to say there would never be enough time. I was about to comment on his pouting when Tig stood up and whistled loudly. Happy glanced over at him and groaned.

"Shut up for a minute, I want to say something." Tig called out and waited for everyone to quiet down before he continued. "Katerina, when I first asked Happy if he'd seen you, he thought you were going to be some big ass ape of a woman with a mustache. Obviously, Killer here ate his words when you showed up in the unit. I had to give up sleep when he thought he was being quiet and sneaky at night. I had to deal with his mood swings when you weren't around. I also had to deal with my brother and best friend being happier than I had ever seen him. I want to thank you for that last one, Katerina. The only way I can repay you is to keep him safe and have his back, and I promise I will. Here's to both of you." Tig raised his beer to us and nodded as everyone else raised his or her glass or beer. I followed suit and smiled at Happy as we all toasted.

"Thank you, Tig." I hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek as Happy stood beside me. Tig nodded and squeezed me tightly. He let me go and moved to hug Happy.

"Her tits are real, huh?" Tig asked with a wink. I laughed and rolled my eyes as he moved out of Happy's hug quickly. My husband was scowling but I knew he was in a good enough mood to take a joke. Maria came up from the crowd and pulled Happy and I into a hug.

"I'm so happy for the two of you. I thought I would never get to see my Happy settle down and get married. He could not have found a better woman, Katerina. Thank you for taking care of my son. I love you both." She gave both of us kisses and Happy wrapped his arm around her with a smile.

"You feeling okay, Ma?" He had mentioned that she looked tired a few minutes before Tig's big toast. She nodded and pinched his cheek with a smile.

"I'm fine, mijo. I think we may turn in for the night though. These parties aren't meant for old ladies." Happy nodded and kissed her forehead before waving Phil over, he was the only prospect that Happy had agreed to invite down for the wedding. Miles had barely escaped losing his kutte and his life, but Happy still didn't trust him with any type of responsibility.

"Make sure these two get back to their hotel and in the room. Do a couple sweeps and then you can come back if it's safe. Realize that if you fuck up, I won't hesitate to kill you." Happy spoke quietly so that his ma couldn't hear him. Phil nodded and smiled.

"Ladies? Let's get you two back to your room so Happy doesn't have to fight the men away." Phil said with a wink. I giggled as Happy rolled his eyes. Maria and Cici waved Phil's flirtation away with youthful giggles before they followed him out towards the vehicles.

We danced and partied with the rest of our family well into the night. The beer was still flowing and the music was still going as we slipped away and retreated back to the beach house. The door barely closed before Happy pulled me into his arms and slammed his mouth into mine. I moaned and slid my tongue past his teeth and to his equally eager tongue.

Neither one of us allowed the kiss to break for more than a split moment as we moved back towards the master bedroom. The bed was in the middle of the room so as to not restrict the view out of the wall of floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the beach. We didn't bother turning the light on as the flickering flames from the torches outside provided us with just enough light to keep from getting hurt.

Happy moved to stand behind me and started to unlace the top of my dress and he kissed and nipped at my neck and shoulders. I trembled under his touch, both physically and emotionally over stimulated. I felt the tightness around my chest disappear as he paused his kissing.

"I don't really know how to get this off without my ka-bar, Katerina." Happy growled in my ear before nipping my earlobe. I smiled and nodded, already having figured out the reason for his hesitation. I reached back and unzipped what small zipper there was in the skirt and then wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Just pick me up, baby. It's technically not the right way, but I don't care right now." I trusted him to be able to figure it out without further instruction and started kissing him again. His lips were soft and hungry.

"You're sexy, wife." Happy growled as he looked down at my white thong that had an L monogrammed in blue. He smirked and ran his thumb over the blue thread as he put me down on the bed. I ran my fingertips up down his sides until I noticed him flinch ever so slightly.

"Happy, what's wrong?" I asked, searching his eyes for some type of explanation. He smiled from ear to ear and turned so I could see his left rib cage. I raised my brow and tried to focus in the dim light. His skin was slightly raised where he had gotten some new ink that I knew nothing about. I squinted to get a better look at the text and started picking out familiar phrases.

"You got your vows tattooed, baby?" I was stuck between crying and fucking him. He kissed the palm of my hand and then put it on his neck as he nodded. My body settled my internal struggle and I yanked him down on top of me. Our mouths connected briefly before he pulled me further up on the bed and took a nipple in to his mouth. He flicked the peak with his tongue and ran a hand down my chest, to my stomach, and finally underneath my thong.

"Happy, I want you." I moaned as he massaged my clit with two fingers. His growl vibrated my nipple and I was already feeling my body building up to an orgasm. No matter how many times I felt him on or in me, I never got used to it.

"You can have me whenever and wherever you want, baby." Happy whispered as he moved his mouth back up to my neck. I bit my bottom lip and unbuckled his belt and made quick work to push his dark jeans and boxer briefs off of him. I wrapped my hand around his member and stroked his tip with my thumb. He moaned and pushed my thong down my legs so I could kick it off and out of his way.

Happy positioned himself just outside of my opening, holding himself up with his hands lacing in with mine. We looked deep into one another's eyes as he slowly entered me. I couldn't suppress the moan that escaped from my lips as he pushed further into me.

"Jesus Christ, Katerina." Happy gripped my hips as I ground my sex against his ripped abdomen. I was already heading towards my third orgasm and wanted to make sure that his first one of the night showed him how much I appreciated it. I could feel the pressure of his black wedding band against my hip and smiled. It was like making love with him for the first time all over again.

**Love and fireworks, what could be better? :) I hope it's not too strange that I smiled and felt emotionally invested as I wrote this chapter for them :) Let me know how you like it, I love reading reviews and thank you for all the ones I've already gotten :) :)**


	26. Hope

I rolled over and looked at my wife who was still sound asleep. She had curled her legs up towards her chest and looked tiny in the huge bed. I slid out of bed as silently and slowly as I could so she could continue sleeping in while I cooked breakfast.

"Happy, what are you doing?" Katerina wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her forehead on my back. I flipped the pancake over before turning around and facing her with a smile.

"Cooking my wife breakfast. You know this damn house is lined with windows, right?" She smirked and nodded as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss me. Her stretching brought my t-shirt she was wearing up over her bare ass.

"I have a thong on, it's okay." She whispered against my lips. I rolled my eyes and kissed her briefly before getting back to cooking. Katerina was a master at making me burn food by distracting me. She raked her nails down my back as I slid the pancake onto a plate.

"Woman, we have to eat at some point." I growled as she laughed and moved away towards the refrigerator. She was humming some song that I remembered hearing last night as she dug through the shelves. Her phone started vibrating on the counter and I narrowed my eyes at the name on the screen.

"Mr. Kline it's Saturday morning." Katerina said as she answered the phone and headed over to the island with a carton of orange juice. I got a glass down and handed it over to her. She stuck her tongue out at me and reluctantly poured the juice into the glass instead of drinking straight from the carton like I knew she was going to.

"What? How can they even do that? Son of a bitch. No, don't send me anything this weekend. I'll come down to your office on Monday. Yeah, you to." Katerina slammed the phone down on the counter and stomped over to the freezer. I cut the stove off and slid the last pancake onto the plate as she got a bottle of vodka out and headed back to her orange juice.

"Talk, Katerina." I slid her plate over before sitting down with my own next to her. She looked down at the pancakes and smiled a little as she took a drink of her vodka heavy screwdriver.

"I don't want to, Happy. This weekend is supposed to be about us." She frowned and pointed a loaded fork at me before putting it in her mouth. I shook my head as I chewed my own food. Even without any makeup and her hair going all over the place, it surprised me how beautiful she was every morning.

"You're drinking at nine o'clock in the morning, babe. What's wrong?" I washed the pancakes down with coffee and looked over at her as she frowned.

"Declan's parent's are suing me for the costs associated with the wedding I called off in addition to personal damages for their fucking humiliation." She scoffed and stabbed a pancake angrily. I felt like stabbing something myself but pancakes weren't going to satisfy that need.

"How much is it, Kat?" I had a feeling the answer was only going to make things worse. From what she had told me and what I had found out on my own, I knew his parents didn't do anything cheap. Katerina shook her head and gave me a small smile.

"I can cover most of it with savings, Hap. No judge will make me pay though. That was between Declan and I. He isn't exactly suing me." She smirked and ran her hand over my arm. I shook my head and sighed.

"I'm going with you Monday." I wanted her to answer my damn question but fighting with her today would be worse than waiting until Monday. She shrugged and kissed my cheek before sliding down from the stool and collecting our plates. I watched her as she rinsed the plates off, wondering why we couldn't catch a fucking break.

"Let's go to the aquarium." Katerina said as she dried her hands off. I laughed and finished my coffee as she hurried back to the bedroom to change. I should have known why she picked Monterey for the wedding.

"If you don't quit I'm going to feed you to a fucking whale, woman." Katerina put the camera down and shook her head before pulling my arm around her shoulders. She'd probably taken ten pictures of stuff in the aquarium and fifty of me.

"Your threats are cute baby." She kissed my hand and twisted my wedding band as we walked over to the shark tank. I laughed and shook my head as my phone started vibrating in my pocket.

"Yeah?" Katerina rolled her eyes and moved out from under my arm to look at a striped shark. Had it not been Clay, I wouldn't have answered the phone.

"Hap, we need you brother. I know you were going to be there until Monday, but we've got problems with black." I closed my eyes and rested an arm against the thick glass tank wall.

"Alright." I snapped the phone shut and looked over at Katerina as she frowned. Breaking my promise to her pissed me off as much as it hurt her. Jax would have avoided pulling this shit where I had a feeling Clay just didn't give a damn.

"We haven't even been married forty-eight hours, Happy." Katerina threw clothes into the suitcases as I tried to stay out of her way. I nodded and caught her as she made another pass by me.

"Kat, I know. We can come back soon or go wherever you want." She looked up at me with a scowl and pushed herself out of my arms. I watched as she zipped the suitcase and pulled it off the bed. I shook my head and took it away from her.

"Why would we go somewhere? So Clay can just call you back to Charming?" Katerina snapped as she grabbed the car keys and her purse. I narrowed my eyes and kept my back turned towards and walked out to the car. I understood why she was upset but there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

**SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA**

"Are you going to talk to me?" Happy asked as we crossed back into San Joaquin County. He had insisted on driving so that we could get back quickly and it only served to piss me off even more. I looked over at him and took a deep breath.

"What do you want me to say, Happy? I'm trying not to fight with you." I felt the tears pricking at my eyes again and looked away. I just wanted some normalcy and time away from Charming with him. He couldn't just tell Clay no and I knew that, but it still hurt.

"Kat, this is how I make money. Even if I could tell Clay no, we need the money from me taking a couple weeks off when you got hurt." He took my hand in his and turned down our street. I had already tried to make him understand that between my savings and the income from the bar, he didn't have to worry about money but that had been a mistake. He made it clear that his money was our money and my money was mine.

"Happy?" I put my hand on the back of his kutte as he tossed a couple of loaded magazine in his saddlebags. "I love you."

"I love you, Katerina. I'm sorry." He kissed my lips and cupped my face with his hands. I inhaled his cologne and leather and felt the tears start to fall.

"It's fine, baby. Be careful and come home to me. Please." I looked up into his eyes and bit my bottom lip. His expression softened as he nodded and kissed my forehead.

"I swear, Kat." He hugged me tightly before stepping back and throwing the bag over his shoulder. Harley hopped up on the bed and nuzzled my side as I sat down next to him and watched Happy leave. I grabbed my phone and texted Kiara.

Less than fifteen minutes later, the doorbell went off and Harley flew off the bed. I smiled, following him towards the door to let Kiara inside. She was holding a bottle of wine and a grocery bag. I laughed and stepped aside to let her inside.

"Lauren is on her way to. She was at the clubhouse seeing Chibs off. You okay, doll?" Kiara put the food and wine down on the floor and hugged me tightly. I nodded and relaxed a little.

"I'm just glad you're here. You're lucky Happy didn't really have time to notice Harley's nails." I said with a laugh. Kiara glanced down at Harley's blue nails and shrugged with a giggle. She and Juice had agreed to check on Harley while we stayed in Monterey and apparently that included a spa day for our Cane Corso.

"At least I went with blue and not sparkling pink. Ya know Tig is right upset that I got custody of Harley while you were gone." Kiara said with a proud smile as she headed into the kitchen. I watched as she unloaded chesses and gelato into the refrigerator and freezer. I put the wine in the cooler Happy had gotten me as an early wedding present.

"Harley loves all his aunts and uncles. Speaking of uncles, how are you and Juice?" I wanted nothing more than to think about something other than Happy being on the road. Kiara blushed a little and spun around on her toes.

"I like him enough to give him a fair go. He's sweet to me. It's a nice change." Kiara smiled as the doorbell rang again. I hadn't locked the door, so I just called for Lauren to come in. She didn't walk so much as waddle.

"Lauren, you look pregnant!" I said with a laugh as I rushed to hug her. She laughed and shook her head with a shrug.

"Yeah, well at least she decided not to pop up before your wedding. I feel like a beached whale." She said with a pout as I let her go. I shook my head as I walked back towards the kitchen where Kiara was searching for wine glasses.

"I saw a whale earlier today. You don't look like a beached or swimming one, trust me." She rubbed a hand over her stomach and shrugged while I opened the cabinet above the wine cooler and handed Kiara two glasses. Harley circled around on his bed before settling down and watching the three of us stand around the kitchen island talking.

"Tara said that Jax is thinking about pushing Clay out of the chair." Lauren said as she climbed onto a barstool. I almost choked on my wine and looked over at her with wide eyes. She nodded and took a sip of her water.

"Does she think it will actually happen? I thought they were planning on leaving." I asked with a furrowed brow. Lauren shrugged and stole a piece of cheese from the tray.

"Apparently he changed his mind. I'm hoping it happens though. Maybe he'll be able to put a stop to all the dangerous shit. I have a daughter that may never even get to meet her father if shit keeps going like this." Lauren said with a frown. I felt a hollowness in my stomach and nodded.


End file.
